LAO began developing its Domestic Violence Strategy by looking at our services through the lens of a client who has experienced or is experiencing domestic violence. This is one in a series of posts exploring the legal needs of domestic violence clients.

Late last year, Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) started mandatory domestic violence awareness training to provide staff with a baseline understanding of what potential warning signs are and to be careful with legal advice so that clients aren’t put into further danger.

Expanding domestic violence awareness training for our staff

We enlisted the help of Luke’s Place, a centre devoted to improving the safety and experience of abused women and their children as they proceed through the family law process. We brought in Pamela Cross, a respected lawyer known for her expertise on family law issues and how they relate to violence against women, to lead these training sessions.

In training our staff, we were looking to provide them with a baseline understanding of potential warning signs.

A common myth

There were a lot of discussions during our training session between staff about the myths and assumptions that people make about victims and abusers. One of the most common myths is that it’s “easy” to spot what a domestic violence victim looks like.

Too often, some of us would automatically describe a client as being female. We’d also likely think of her as being cisgender—having her gender identification coincide with the sex she was assigned at birth. But the intersections of gender and domestic violence are more complex than this.

While approximately 90 per cent of LAO clients who identify as experiencing domestic violence are women, LAO provides services to people of all genders. It’s clear that people of all genders may be victimized by their partner in a same-sex relationship and that men may also be victimized by women partners. People of all genders can experience domestic violence; and people of all genders can inflict it.

What we need to remember

Domestic violence is a broad term used to describe abuse that happens within a family. Most people automatically associate domestic violence with intimate partner abuse, but other types of domestic violence can include child abuse, elder abuse and abuse in a caregiving relationship. Domestic violence can include physical abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, stalking and domestic murder.

And while there are many types of domestic violence, the fact remains that women are more likely than men to experience the most severe forms of abuse.

In a 1999 Statistics Canada report, it was noted that “…the violence women suffer tends to be more severe in nature (e.g. beaten, choked, sexually assaulted) and repeated [and that] as a result of experiencing spousal abuse, women are three times more likely to be injured, five times more likely to seek medical attention and five times more likely to fear for their lives than men.”

83% of all police-reported domestic assaults are against women – and this pattern is consistent for every province and territory across the country. It’s also important to note that about half of all female murder victims in Canada are killed by a former or current intimate partner. In comparison, 7 per cent of male murder victims were killed by intimate partners.

While statistics about transgender people and their experiences of domestic violence in Canada are more difficult to come by, transgender people are also victims of domestic violence. Moreover, transgender victims of domestic violence seeking support may be turned away from shelters that serve the gender they identify as, and often face other barriers to accessing gender-appropriate support services.

When it comes to supporting domestic violence clients in the criminal justice system, it was only this year that Ontario made an official policy to recognize gender identity and expression in provincial correctional facilities. This is not yet a reality throughout Canada.

How you can help us enhance our services

In our consultation paper, Development of a Domestic Violence Strategy, we acknowledge that our focus in the paper is on intimate partner violence. But, we make it clear that gender-based analysis is needed to properly identify the different risks that men and women face.

This is why the consultation process is so important: we need the input of survivors and people working on the frontlines to help victims. We want to hear about your experiences so we can develop a strategy to expand and improve legal aid services.

We welcome all questions and feedback. Please write to us at dvs@lao.on.ca.