66 search results for
Experiences of sexual assault
Recommendation 83:
We call upon all educational service providers to develop and implement awareness and education programs for Indigenous children and youth on the issue of grooming for exploitation and sexual exploitation.
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 95:
We call upon all child and family services agencies to engage in recruitment efforts to hire and promote Indigenous staff, as well as to promote the intensive and ongoing training of social workers and child welfare staff in the following areas:
- history of the child welfare system in the oppression and genocide of Indigenous Peoples
- anti-racism and anti-bias training
- local culture and language training
- sexual exploitation and trafficking training to recognize signs and develop specialized responses
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 71:
We call upon all actors in the justice system, including police services, to build respectful working relationships with Indigenous Peoples by knowing, understanding, and respecting the people they are serving. Initiatives and actions should include, but are not limited to, the following measures:
- Review and revise all policies, practices, and procedures to ensure service delivery that is culturally appropriate and reflects no bias or racism toward Indigenous Peoples, including victims and survivors of violence.
- Establish engagement and partnerships with Indigenous Peoples, communities, and leadership, including women, Elders, youth, and 2SLGBTQQIA people from the respective territories and who are resident within a police service’s jurisdiction.
- Ensure appropriate Indigenous representation, including Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people, on police services boards and oversight authorities.
- Undertake training and education of all staff and officers so that they understand and implement culturally appropriate and trauma-informed practices, especially when dealing with families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
-
Category and theme:
- Access to justice ,
- Culture and language ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Gender-based violence ,
- Human rights system ,
- Indigenous issues in policing and justice ,
- Policing ,
- Policing and the criminal justice system ,
- Public education and reconciliation ,
- Racism ,
- Representation and leadership ,
- Sexism
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 40:
We call on all levels of government, in collaboration with Aboriginal people, to create adequately funded and accessible Aboriginal-specific victim programs and services with appropriate evaluation mechanisms.
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 20:
The BC government and MCFD must fund and resource supportive housing alternatives where parents and children who are at risk of harm can live. These homes should be specifically qualified to address complex family circumstances. Creative housing solutions where caregivers and children can stay together while receiving wrap-around support are especially needed in remote areas.
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 1:
States should pursue policies that ensure support for families in meeting their responsibilities towards the child and promote the right of the child to have a relationship with both parents. These policies should address the root causes of child abandonment, relinquishment and separation of the child from his/her family by ensuring, inter alia, the right to birth registration, and access to adequate housing and to basic health, education and social welfare services, as well as by promoting measures to combat poverty, discrimination, marginalization, stigmatization, violence, child maltreatment and sexual abuse, and substance abuse.
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 5:
The Canadian legal system also requires specialised training of professionals working with children, including mental health professionals, lawyers, and judges (Bala & Birnbaum, 2019; Collins, 2019; Paetsch et al., 2018). This is particularly important for legal professionals working on cases involving parental alienation and/or family violence (Elrod, 2016; Martinson & Jackson, 2016). These types of cases require judges and mental health professionals who are experienced in discovering and addressing problems in the family, as there can be multiple reasons for a child refusing contact with a parent or guardian, including family violence that can continue to put the child at risk if left unaddressed in custody and access decisions (Elrod, 2016; Martinson & Tempesta, 2018).
Specific recommendations for children’s legal counsel include: ensuring democratic communication, in which lawyers and child both share information about themselves to build trust in preparation for proceedings; having lawyers inform children about the court process and what it means to have a lawyer represent them; having lawyers pose questions to children to better recognize how children understand the court process; and getting lawyers to emphasize flexibility in the child’s options to share their views, not share them at all or change their instructions to the lawyer (Bala & Birnbaum, 2019; Koshan, 2020; Horsfall, 2013; Paetsch et al., 2018). Those working at family courts should receive specialised training on family violence and high-risk cases, which can have a substantial impact on children’s rights (Koshan, 2020; Martinson & Raven, 2020a). From a scholastic perspective, much more research is needed to understand which of the many strategies implemented across Canada (and the world) might be most helpful to children’s legal participation (Birnbaum & Saini, 2012). This requires ongoing cooperation and collaboration between the legal and academic communities, to guarantee specialised and sensitised approaches to this topic.
Specific recommendations for children’s legal counsel include: ensuring democratic communication, in which lawyers and child both share information about themselves to build trust in preparation for proceedings; having lawyers inform children about the court process and what it means to have a lawyer represent them; having lawyers pose questions to children to better recognize how children understand the court process; and getting lawyers to emphasize flexibility in the child’s options to share their views, not share them at all or change their instructions to the lawyer (Bala & Birnbaum, 2019; Koshan, 2020; Horsfall, 2013; Paetsch et al., 2018). Those working at family courts should receive specialised training on family violence and high-risk cases, which can have a substantial impact on children’s rights (Koshan, 2020; Martinson & Raven, 2020a). From a scholastic perspective, much more research is needed to understand which of the many strategies implemented across Canada (and the world) might be most helpful to children’s legal participation (Birnbaum & Saini, 2012). This requires ongoing cooperation and collaboration between the legal and academic communities, to guarantee specialised and sensitised approaches to this topic.
-
Category and theme:
- Access to justice ,
- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Ageism ,
- Courts ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Human rights system ,
- Indigenous children and youth in care ,
- International human rights ,
- Policing and the criminal justice system ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Public services
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 6:
Revise policies relating to connectivity and expansion goals in order to recognize gender-based and intersectional elements of digital divides, as well as how these relate to violence and anti-violence work. Shift work related to connectivity from a conversation that focuses mainly on economic inclusion and opportunities to one where gender equality and safety is also central.
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 6:
PUBLIC EDUCATION—efforts to raise public awareness about consent and sexual assault, options for survivors, the risks and benefits of reporting, and the steps in the justice system’s process
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 10:
Provide spaces for anti-violence workers and organizations in RRI communities to collaborate, interact, and share their experiences in the spirit of mutual support and solidarity; support the implementation of communities of practice for rural membership such as the Safehomes Community of Practice for rural members that BCSTH is organizing. One anti-violence worker voiced that the development of this kind of interaction would be helpful to countering at times urban centric policies and systems.
-
Category and theme:
Audience: