We already explored what the Canadian government does to prevent gender violence, so it’s only appropriate to see how non-profit organizations dedicated to fighting gender violence work to eradicate it.
Many advocates note that while legislation is necessary when it comes to recognizing and prosecuting gender violence, community outreach and support is important in preventing it and that’s when non-profit organizations or NPOs come in play.
Many NPOs across Canada work to educate the public on the issue of gender violence and they work tirelessly to prevent it and support victims of it. In today’s article, we will tell you about a few non-profit organizations which aim to prevent gender violence and how they mean to do that.
Ending Violence Association of Canada
Ending Violence Association of Canada, or EVA Canada, is a national organization established in 2014 with the goal to end gender violence. EVA uses research, policy, and advocacy to bring awareness to the human rights abuse that is gender violence and fight it.
EVA Canada works collaboratively with gender-based violence organizations all over Canada. The organization believes that the power lays in numbers, which is why from its very inception it has sought to bring together all gender-violence prevention advocates.
By doing this, EVA Canada hopes not only to extend its reach to all provinces in Canada, but to also allow advocates to share valuable experience between each other in order to enact meaningful change in their country.
Yukon Status of Women Council
Yukon Status of Women Council is a non-profit organization, partnering with EVA Canada, which means to bring the issues experienced by women in Yukon to the forefront.
The organization proudly shares its feminist origins and is the only NPO in Canada authorized to ‘work on women’s issues with all levels of government, conduct research, follow up the results with action, and provide a platform for Yukon women’s voices’.
The organization conducts research into the issues experienced by Yukon women which it uses to create programs to educate the public and to advocate for policies for the betterment of women in the territory.
Gender-based violence is categorized as one of the key issues by the Yukon Status of Women Council. According to national statistics on gender violence, Yukon women experience gender-based violence four times the national rate which could be due to their ethnicity (more indigenous women live in the North), education (lower educational attainment in Yukon), and age (younger average population in Yukon).
Alice House
Alice House is a charity with the mission to create a society ‘in which every person can live a life without fear or threat of physical, sexual, emotional, financial, social, or spiritual abuse’. The organization helps women, femme-identifying individuals and children who are in need of housing and mental health support as a result of gender-violence.
Alice House is different from other emergency shelters as it provides longer-term housing whereas victims can stay in the apartments or townhouses for up to two years which gives them time to find employment if necessary and make arrangements for permanent housing elsewhere.
In addition to housing, Alice House also provides therapy counselling and support services to empower victims and help them begin their new life free of abuse.
Atira Women’s Resource Society
Atira Women’s Resource Society is a non-profit organization based in downtown Vancouver that also provides services in Burnaby, Surrey, and White Rock. The goal of the organization is to end violence against women, femme-identifying individuals, and non-binary people. They do that by offering a wide variety of different services to support women affected by violence. For example, they provide emergency housing, daycare and education, legal advocacy, and counselling. By doing so, Akira helps victims to overcome the trauma associated with gender-violence and to find their own voice and forge their lifepath.
The Peer Outreach Support Services and Education (POSSE) Project
The Peer Outreach Support Services and Education (POSSE) Project is one of the recipients of the funds allocated by the Canadian government in the fight to prevent gender-violence in Nova Scotia. POSSE is due to receive 1 million CAD over a four-year period to achieve its goals.
The non-profit organization focuses on educating youth and young adults on the issues of gender-violence and human trafficking. POSSE trains young volunteers (between the ages of 15 and 35) in Sackville, Sipekne’katik First Nation and Windsor-West Hants who could then educate others on these issues and be a positive change in their communities.
POSSE knows the power of community, which is why it specializes in training volunteers who could later apply this knowledge to their specific local community and thus achieve better results in their outreach to prevent gender-violence and their support of victims.
Thoughts
What do you think of the aforementioned non-profit organizations that mean to prevent gender-violence and help victims of gender-violence? If any of these NPOs interest you, you can consider volunteering for them. Simply visit their websites and find out more about their volunteer programs.