2019 Annual Report
Read our 2019 Annual Report. to learn about West Coast LEAF’s work for gender justice in the 2018/2019 fiscal year. Publications
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194 results for: Access to justice
Submission on Provincial Court Family Rules
In December 2019, West Coast LEAF and Rise Women’s Legal Centre collaborated to respond to the BC government’s request for input about proposed new Provincial Court Family Rules. We urged the government to adopt a framework that would take into account the realities of gender-based violence and reduce barriers in access to justice. We also made the … Read more Submission on Provincial Court Family Rules
Release: Child support system must promote gender equality, advocacy group argues at Supreme Court of Canada
OTTAWA – West Coast LEAF is at the Supreme Court of Canada this morning, intervening in a case about the ability of judges in BC to ensure that children and their caregiving parent get the financial support to which they are entitled, by making changes to existing child support orders. In this important family law … Read more Release: Child support system must promote gender equality, advocacy group argues at Supreme Court of Canada
Release: New report: Indigenous families share their vision for transforming the failings of BC’s child protection system
VANCOUVER – Today, West Coast LEAF released a report setting out the experiences of Indigenous families who have had engagement with the provincial child welfare system. Pathways in a Forest: Indigenous guidance on prevention-based child welfare highlights efforts by Indigenous families, communities, and Nations to revitalize Indigenous approaches to child welfare, develop comprehensive community-based supports, and fight … Read more Release: New report: Indigenous families share their vision for transforming the failings of BC’s child protection system
Five ways to bring feminism into the high school classroom
What does a feminist education look like to you? We’d like to think it includes teaching students about justice, encouraging critical thinking about power and inequality, and giving young people tools that they can use to help themselves and others to live happily and freely. With the addition of a social justice elective for grade 12 students and the work being … Read more Five ways to bring feminism into the high school classroom
Release: They didn’t stop us: Legal aid constitutional challenge going full steam ahead
VANCOUVER – Today, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that West Coast LEAF’s case seeking to increase access to justice for women and others fleeing abuse or violent relationships can go ahead. The rights group brought the case in 2017, arguing that the Provincial government and the Legal Services Society (“LSS”) have failed to … Read more Release: They didn’t stop us: Legal aid constitutional challenge going full steam ahead
Letter urging BC to invest in a rights-based framework for survivors of sexual assault
Commencing in 2016, West Coast LEAF partnered with the YWCA-Metro Vancouver on a project aimed at identifying strategies to reduce barriers in the justice system for sexual assault survivors through dialogue among key stakeholders, including frontline anti-violence activists and service providers, police, former Crown, retired judges, academics, and defense counsel. In fall 2018, we released We Are Here: Women’s Experiences … Read more Letter urging BC to invest in a rights-based framework for survivors of sexual assault
2020 BC Budget submissions
In June 2019, West Coast LEAF made submissions to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services urging the government of BC to commit in Budget 2020 to making financial supports more accessible for families dealing with the child protection system and those in informal kinship care arrangements. Read our submissions. Submissions
Letter calling for legal aid for anti-violence organizations protecting clients’ counselling records
In June 2019, West Coast LEAF, EVA BC and Surrey Women’s Centre wrote to the Attorney General of BC to call for adequate legal aid for anti-violence organizations facing applications to disclose client counselling records to defense counsel as part of sexual assault cases. As it stands now, anti-violence organizations with very limited budgets are being forced to cover … Read more Letter calling for legal aid for anti-violence organizations protecting clients’ counselling records
A mixtape to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day
“My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back.”- Louis Riel The above quote from Metis leader Louis Riel has been resonating with me, as I reflect on the incredible richness of the Indigenous arts scene across Turtle Island (North America) and … Read more A mixtape to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day