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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177 results for: Gender-based violence
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: Anti-SLAPP legislation must ensure the dignity, safety and equality rights of survivors of gender-based violence, says BC Coalition to Supreme Court of Canada
Today, a coalition of BC anti-violence organizations intervened in Maia Bent, et al. v. Howard Platnick, et al. at the Supreme Court of Canada. The coalition, including Atira Women’s Resource Society, Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS), Salal Sexual Violence Support Centre (formerly WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre) and West Coast LEAF, is calling on the Supreme Court of Canada to interpret anti-SLAPP legislation … Read more Release: Anti-SLAPP legislation must ensure the dignity, safety and equality rights of survivors of gender-based violence, says BC Coalition to Supreme Court of Canada
Maia Bent, et al. v Howard Platnick, et al.; 1704604 Ontario Limited v Pointes Protection Association, et al. [2019]
Case summary These two cases about strategic lawsuits against public participation (“SLAPP suits”) were heard together by the Supreme Court of Canada. SLAPP suits commonly take the form of defamation claims and may often be used to silence dissenting views or to intimidate. Defamation claims are increasingly being used as a legal weapon against survivors … Read more Maia Bent, et al. v Howard Platnick, et al.; 1704604 Ontario Limited v Pointes Protection Association, et al. [2019]
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
Letter to the City of Vancouver about sexualized violence in the hospitality industry
West Coast LEAF wrote to the Mayor and Council of the City of Vancouver in support of a motion to investigate pervasive sexual harassment and sexual assault in the hospitality industry and identify steps the City can take to promote safer workplaces. Read our letter. Submissions
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
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
Celebrating 20 Years of Youth-to-Youth Legal Education
One of the ways that West Coast LEAF uses the law as a tool for social change is through public legal education. Our public legal education program encourages people to think critically about the law and society, and to understand and exercise their legal rights. For the last 20 years, part of the way we conduct our … Read more Celebrating 20 Years of Youth-to-Youth Legal Education