Updates & Press

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

Five ways to bring feminism into the high school classroom

04/09/2019Access to justice, Criminalization, Economic security, Family well-being, Gender-based violence, Healthcare Update

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

23/08/2019Access to justice, Family well-being Press

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

Release: Community groups disappointed provincial mental health and addictions strategy neglects law

28/06/2019Criminalization, Healthcare Press

VANCOUVER – Community groups joined together to express disappointment in “A Pathway to Hope” – the provincial mental health and addictions strategy announced yesterday by the Premier and the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. The strategy sets a 10-year course for transforming the BC mental health and addictions system with new investments in mental … Read more Release: Community groups disappointed provincial mental health and addictions strategy neglects law