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Social services barriers keep LGBTQ2S+ community from seeking help from abuse
Breaking the cycle of domestic violence
A new bill wants to criminalize ‘coercive’ conduct in Canada. What is it?
Global News, November 10, 2023Online
URL: https://globalnews.ca/news/10084970/domestic-abuse-coercive-control-bill/
Andrea Silverstone, CEO of Sagesse, speaks about Bill C-332, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (controlling or coercive conduct). "It’s really important that Canada passed coercive control legislation because it gives the justice system another tool in their toolbox that helps us to get upstream of this issue,” she told Global News in an interview.
“It protects victims of violence, it gives more opportunity for interventions and it changes the discourse in the public.”
Coercive Control Brief
SagesseOnline
Sagesse's submission to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which recommends:
1. Immediately implement a new nation-wide working definition of domestic violence to reflect coercive control.
2. Canadian criminal laws be changed to reflect coercive control. (Using Scottish laws as the gold standard of effective coercive control legislation. Please note section 76 of the 2015 Serious Crime Act is currently under review with a proposed enhanced Domestic Violence Act being discussed in the House of Commons)
3. Support nation-wide training for police, judges, and crown prosecutors on the framework of coercive control in domestic and sexual violence.
4. Appoint a Coercive Control and Abuse Commissioner for Canada with expertise in domestic and sexual abuse (including sexual exploitation) to provide public leadership on abuse issues and play a key role in overseeing and monitoring the provision of abuse responses with a focus on coercive control. The Commission should hold the power to publish reports and put them before Parliament – holding systems and government to account and hold public bodies and Minsters accountable to respond to recommendations made by the Commissioner (see UK model https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-abuse-bill-2020factsheets/domestic-abuse-commissioner-factsheet)
Calgary experiencing 'shadow pandemic' of domestic violence, experts say
Controlling behaviour should be part of criminal definition of domestic abuse, advocates argue
Alberta brings in 'Clare's Law' to support those at risk of domestic violence
Understanding the Experiences of Coercive Control and Sexual Exploitation
by Andrea Silverstone, Chief Executive Officer, Sagesse Domestic Violence Prevention Society; Carrie McManus, Director of Innovation and Programs, Sagesse Domestic Violence Prevention Society; Rod Dubrow-Marshall, PhD, Professor, Co-Programme Leader, Masters of Science Psychology of Coercive Control, University of Salford and RETIRN, UK
Published by The Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime
October 4, 2022
Sexual exploitation of women is recognized worldwide as an issue of significant concern (WHO, 2021). Sexual exploitation of adults happens through a variety of means, causing trauma to those who are victims of the exploitation. There is not a common understanding or definition of what sexual exploitation is across jurisdictions or even sectors, with current definitions and scope being either too narrow, or too broad, making it almost impossible to know the scope of the issue (Kelly and Regan, 2000). Societally there is a debate about the best way to address the sex trade ranging from legalization and regulation to criminalization. Although a commonality of definition and understanding of scope is absent, there is a common experience of coercive control reported by those with lived experience of sexual exploitation. Little is understood around the intersection of the experience of sexual exploitation and coercive control.
This paper presents a policy, practice and legislative review in jurisdictions similar to a Canadian context while also exploring a qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study presenting perspectives of 7 women with lived experience of sexual exploitation and coercive control, describing their journey of sex work, experiences of wellbeing, the impact of coercive control, the efficacy of intervention, services, protection, and enforcement and the impacts of COVID-19 on their experiences. The study offers a unique perspective of lived experience individuals who have been engaged in sex work, their loss of personal agency (capacity to act or exert power over their own actions) while recognizing the complexity of the continuum of voluntary and involuntary sex work. Implications for legislative and intervention practices are offered that include the suggested inclusion of coercive control legislation into the Canadian Criminal Code (CCC) that encompasses sexual exploitation, interventions that recognize the need for strengths bases, long- term, multi-agency approaches and practice frameworks that are multi-faceted and recognize the complexity of the lived experiences of women who engage in sex work.
URL: https://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/res/cor/ECS-ECS/index.html
Biography
As the CEO of Sagesse, an organization committed to disrupting structures of violence for individuals, organizations and communities, Andrea Silverstone works tirelessly to address domestic and sexual violence across Alberta. Silverstone is a Registered Social Worker and Mediator with a background in Judaic/Talmudic Law, having attended Lindenbaum College in Jerusalem and York University in Toronto. She has combined this educational background with a desire to stop violence before it begins to create program models and structural policy that elevates untold experiences of domestic violence. Her work has made large impacts in Alberta, including implementing a primary prevention initiative to address domestic and sexual violence across Alberta and playing an instrumental role in supporting the Alberta Government to bring the Domestic Violence Disclosure Act to Alberta.