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Guide assists abused women
New resource gives women direction and legal contact information when they flee violence

Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 10, 2014

IQALUIT
When a woman flees family violence, they often turn to the YWCA Agvvik shelter in Apex.

NNSL photo/graphic

Aline Nizigama of YWCA Canada, left, seen with YWCA Agvvik executive director and supporter Meeka Kilabuk, introduces the Nunavut Legal Information Resource for Violence Support Services, designed to help women fleeing violence and associated case workers, especially at the YWCA Agvvik shelters, know the rights these women have to protect themselves and their families. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

But they often don't know their rights under the law, and until now, some shelter staff were also in the dark. Enter a new resource introduced Oct. 24 that stems from a series of workshops last year.

"This is a one-stop guide for all the communities for staff and victims of violence to access every single door to justice," said executive director Suny Jacob.

"Most of the time, when they are coming, they need the support from legal services due to the situation they are in. They are from all communities and they have many resources in their communities, and this is very helpful for them."

Jacob says before, there was no single place to direct her organization's clients.

"We know up to about 65 per cent of the women are unaware of their legal rights," she said. "When they are looking into all different sources, they get tired because it's not easily accessible to them.

"Because they can't access that, they get frustrated on top of the trauma they are already facing. This is too much for them.

"So most of the women give up, and say, 'whatever.' This is much easier for them."

The Law Foundation of Ontario funded a series of workshops across Canada focusing on justice for aboriginal women dealing with violence.

The Law Foundation and Justice Canada each provided funding that allowed for a meeting of the minds between an Inuktitut-speaking legal adviser from Ottawa and women from Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, all of whom travelled to Iqaluit for four days in Nov. 2013.

Aline Nizigama, YWCA Canada's manager of programs and projects, said the project's outcome will be significant.

"There's a need for this resource," Nizigama said, noting it is an important tool for staff. "Most of the time, it was found that they weren't confident or knowledgeable about these areas. It wasn't about giving them legal education.

"It was helping them know what the steps are and processes involved in legal areas the women they help need the support in most."

All members of staff at the two shelters - the 21-bed Qimaavik shelter for women fleeing violence and the 12-bed Sivummut shelter for homeless women - have a copy of the resource at the shelters, and have been using them since September.

"It talks about many scenarios," Jacob said, describing the contents. "Some people don't know exactly their legal rights, so it gives different scenarios and they can recognize the scenarios. It's like modelling. They can represent themselves if they need to and the awareness is there."

And for staff, the resource gives them the ability to go directly to the source that can help the most given the situation.

"They can say, here it is, let's call this number, and they can give us guidance," she said.

YWCA Canada has also created a website with the contents of the resource.

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