Updates & Press

Release: Survivors of sexual assault will be supported by a new legal toolkit to protect against invasive disclosure of private records and sexual history

28/04/2020Access to justice, Gender-based violence Press

VANCOUVER – Today, West Coast LEAF launched a toolkit for navigating the admissibility of evidence of a survivor’s sexual activity and the production of third-party records in criminal proceedings. Designed for lawyers representing survivors, the toolkit addresses section 276 and 278 Criminal Code matters. It provides an overview of the evolution of this area of law, practical advice for advancing … Read more Release: Survivors of sexual assault will be supported by a new legal toolkit to protect against invasive disclosure of private records and sexual history

Community in action: Ways you can support our most marginalized communities during Covid-19

15/04/2020Criminalization, Economic security, Family well-being Update

In these times of uncertainty where events are rapidly unfolding, it is hard not to feel overwhelmed and daunted by the challenges we must confront. Like many of you, West Coast LEAF’s staff team is in our fifth week of working remotely and maintaining social and physical distance to quell the spread of COVID-19. We … Read more Community in action: Ways you can support our most marginalized communities during Covid-19

Refugee Rights are Human Rights: The United States is no safe country for refugee survivors of gender-based violence

01/04/2020Access to justice, Gender-based violence Update

While settling into work-and-do-everything-else-from-home mode, I’m thinking about those who must leave their homes and brave uncertain and potentially hostile terrain to secure safety and freedom from violence. Refugees are among those hardest hit by global crises – COVID-19 is no exception. At the time I write this, the border between Canada and the United States … Read more Refugee Rights are Human Rights: The United States is no safe country for refugee survivors of gender-based violence

Challenging racism in all its complex forms: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

18/03/2020Access to justice, Criminalization, Economic security, Gender-based violence Update

This Saturday, March 21st, we will celebrate this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racism. At this moment, we nervously watch an openly racist leader to the South tries to hang onto power, white nationalist movements gain strength in Europe, and Indigenous people in Canada, regardless of whether or not they are actively supporting the Wet’suwet’en land defenders, are being … Read more Challenging racism in all its complex forms: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Eight Black writers to check out during Black History Month and beyond

19/02/2020Access to justice, Criminalization, Economic security, Family well-being, Gender-based violence, Healthcare Update

“We need, each of us, to begin the awesome, difficult work of love; loving ourselves so that we become able to love others without fear so that we can become able enough to enlarge the circle of our trust and our common striving for a safe, sunny afternoon near to flowering trees and under a … Read more Eight Black writers to check out during Black History Month and beyond

Release: Budget 2020: Province committed to staying the course, but leaves many behind

18/02/2020Access to justice, Economic security, Family well-being, Gender-based violence Press

VICTORIA – Today, the provincial government released Budget 2020. While we are pleased that this budget is aimed at holding the course on earlier commitments, it still leaves BC’s most marginalized residents lagging far behind. “This budget does not go far enough to address the gendered dimensions of poverty and inequity,” says Raji Mangat, Executive Director … Read more Release: Budget 2020: Province committed to staying the course, but leaves many behind

A feminist governance framework recipe

15/01/2020Access to justice, Criminalization, Economic security, Family well-being, Gender-based violence, Healthcare Update

Academics such as Anne Orford have challenged feminists who operate at the intersections of law, equality, and social justice to imagine a rights framework that avoids reproducing the pervasive and often unspoken assumptions of imperialism and patriarchy. To me, feminist governance frameworks challenge masculinist and Eurocentric approaches to labour, decision-making, and communication by calling on us to actively reimagine … Read more A feminist governance framework recipe

Release: Child support system must promote gender equality, advocacy group argues at Supreme Court of Canada

14/11/2019Access to justice, Family well-being Press

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: 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

12/11/2019Gender-based violence Press

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

Release: New report: Indigenous families share their vision for transforming the failings of BC’s child protection system

24/09/2019Access to justice, Criminalization, Family well-being Press

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