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From Awareness to Action
There have been repeated calls for greater public awareness on family violence, as well as better professional training, more resources, and enhanced collaboration between the justice system and community service providers. While considerable work has been done to help family law professionals identify family violence and assess risk, this awareness has not yet been matched with a high level of training on how to go from identifying family violence to understanding its’ impact on survivors and their children and creating and supporting appropriate parenting plans in the context of family violence.
This project, funded by the Department of Justice Canada, supports the continuation of five regional Communities of Practice through the Alliance of Canadian Research Centres on Gender-Based Violence. These Communities of Practice are comprised of survivors of family violence and representatives from the gender-based violence (GBV), health, and family law sectors, and work together to:
- Enhance training opportunities for GBV specialists and Family law specialists to support trauma-informed practice.
- Promote standardized screening tools to enhance the substantive and procedural decision- and recommendation-making by multidisciplinary family law professionals involved in family violence-related child custody matters (including judges, lawyers, and assessors).
- To create a standardized guide for parenting plans where there has been family violence.
The work of Awareness to Action builds on the PHAC grant Supporting the Health of Survivors of Family Violence in Family Law Proceedings.
RESOURCES & WEBINARS
Retranche la violence (Exiting violence): A project with Transformative Impact on Practices and Policies in Quebec: Development and Implementation of the Partnership Workstream
March 31, 2026 | Recording Available
Retranche la violence (Exiting violence) is a major action research project conducted in Quebec and funded by the SSHRC Partnership Program (2023-2030). It brings together approximately sixty members from community and institutional practice settings, political circles (Justice and Health and Social Services), and academia. The unifying objective of all these members is to study the factors that facilitate the exit of intimate, family, and structural violence, and then to integrate these factors into social practices and policies.
“Red Flag” Law Awareness: Protecting Against Firearm Harm in Gender-Based Violence
March 12, 2026 | Recording Available
“Red Flag” laws aim to enhance protections to address firearm-related harm in cases of gender-based violence by allowing individuals to apply to a court to ask for restrictions on a person’s access to firearms where there are safety concerns.
This webinar provided legal professionals with an overview of the development, purpose, and practical implications of recently implemented “Red Flag” laws. It also traced the legislative history of Bill C-21, leading to the enactment of “Red Flag” laws and other amendments addressing firearm-related harm.
Preventing Intimate Partner Homicide: Reflections from Members of the DVDRC, Part 2
November 27, 2025 | Recording Available
Founded in 2003, the mandate of Ontario’s multi-disciplinary Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC) is to assist the Office of the Chief Coroner in the investigation and review of deaths of persons that occur as a result of intimate partner homicide and to make recommendations to help prevent further deaths.
In this webinar, DVDRC members will share lessons learned from homicides in the context of family law proceedings as well as unique issues for survivors in immigrant or refugee communities. The webinar will also explore the special needs of surviving children in the aftermath of domestic homicide deaths.
