Virtual Summit Program - March 28-29, 2023

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Register here

Shockproofing Communities

Renforçons nos communautés

Shockproofing Communities Virtual Summit

Shockproofing Communities | Renforçons nos communautés

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*All times are EST

March 28 - 2:30 PM EST

�Livestreamed to Zoom from Ottawa

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Moderator: Emilie Nicolas

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Panelists: Dalya Israel� Executive Director, WAVAW Rape

Crisis Centre

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Marlihan Lopez

Program and Outreach Coordinator at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute

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Tia Wong

Co-Chair, Students for Consent Culture

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Viola Thomas� Indigenous Relations Manager,

YWCA Vancouver

Over the last three years, gender-based violence (GBV) service providers have worked tirelessly, under increasingly difficult conditions, to provide life-saving support and care to survivors, contributing to efforts to shockproof our communities against the increase in GBV wrought by the pandemic.

Increased awareness that gendered violence increases in times of community stress has led to renewed calls for a “culture shift” – away from addressing male violence against women and gender diverse people as an individual problem, towards undoing long-standing discrimination and oppression so that everyone can find safety and well-being.

Conversations about equity, inclusion, and intersectionality have taken place within the GBV sector for years, as many organizations grapple with the legacy of programs and services developed by and for straight, white, cis-gender women. Many have adopted the language of intersectionality, but have struggled to bring it to life through service provision and advocacy in ways that truly address the root causes of the gendered violence that is so pervasive in our communities.

Panelists will explore how service providers can address inequities embedded in longstanding practices, what accountability looks like, and what it takes to interrupt the discriminatory and colonial underpinnings of the sector in order to advance transformational gender justice.

Plenary Livestream

From Intention to Action: �Intersectional Practice in the Gender-Based Violence Sector

Shockproofing Communities | Renforçons nos communautés

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March 28 - 4:30 PM EST

�Zoom Workshop for Online Participants

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Online Host: Dorothy Alexandre

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Moderator: Aldeli Albán Reyna� Director, Grants & Community

Initiatives, Laidlaw Foundation

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Panelists: Eileen Boissoneau� Matriarch & Health Director� Mattagami First Nation

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Loly Rico

Founder, FCJ Refugee Centre

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Soon after the pandemic began, incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) began to increase, alongside other stressors, such as a worsening housing crisis and rising food insecurity. This is unsurprising. When communities are under stress—from disasters like floods and wildfires, economic downturns, or public health crises—already marginalized communities are hit the hardest, including by increases in GBV rates.

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While public health measures and emergency management responses should be designed to address these known stressors and reduce rates of GBV, little effort has been made to integrate an intersectional lens in Canada’s public health and emergency management practice.

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Public health and other formal, organized responses to crises often exclude or erase the realities of marginalized community members. Much of the emergency management and response is shouldered by local, grassroots community organizations and neighbourhood groups that emerge to meet community needs. This important work is often unseen, despite how critical it is to our communities.

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This panel, organized in partnership with Preparing Our Home, features the voices of community leaders who have led grassroots emergency responses for underserved communities.

Virtual Workshop

Disaster & Emergency Management: Emergent Responses

Shockproofing Communities | Renforçons nos communautés

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March 29 - 1:00 PM EST

�Zoom Workshop for Online Participants

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Online Host: Dorothy Alexandre

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Moderator: Karen Campbell� Senior Director, Canadian Women’s Foundation

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Panelists: Alex Valoroso� Gender & Disaster and Emergency

Management Specialist

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Carmin O’Neal� Gender & Disaster and Emergency

Management Specialist

Magda Sulzycki

Disaster and Emergency

Management Specialist

In the wake of the pandemic, organizations providing services for gender-based violence (GBV) survivors had to quickly adapt their services to meet the demands of a new reality: surging demand for services in an over-stretched sector; staff affected by the multiple social, economic, and health impacts of the crisis; increasingly complex community needs; and the imperative of keeping staff and service users safe, often through physically distanced and online service delivery.

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While many GBV organizations have emergency plans to guide their actions in the immediate onset of an emergency (e.g., evacuation protocols for fires, floods, violence against staff, etc.), few have the time or resources required to create service continuity plans to enable the continued fulfillment of their missions during a sustained, community-wide crisis.

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In partnership with the Canadian Women’s Foundation, expert practitioners in the emergency management field have worked in consultation with GBV sector leaders to create adaptable, sector-specific service continuity guidelines with an intersectional gender lens. Join us as we introduce these guidelines to the sector.

Virtual Workshop

Service Continuity Guidelines for the Gender-Based Violence Sector

Shockproofing Communities | Renforçons nos communautés

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March 29 - 2:50 PM EST

�Livestreamed to Zoom from Ottawa

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Moderator: Paulette Senior

President & CEO, Canadian Women’s Foundation

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Panelists: Rosemary Rowlands� Help and Hope for Families

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Jeanne Françoise Moué� La maison d'hébergement pour

femmes francophones de Toronto

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Fatima Naravez�Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association

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Tanya Felix�Antigonish Women’s Centre & Sexual Assault Services

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In this panel discussion, service providers from the gender-based violence sector will reflect on their experiences throughout the pandemic – from the early days of immediate response to the emergency, through the adjustment to a new normal, and what they see on the horizon for organizations in the sector.

Plenary Livestream

Taking Stock: Pandemic Recovery & Response in the Gender-Based Violence Sector

Shockproofing Communities | Renforçons nos communautés

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