RESOLVE SASKATCHEWAN
c/o Luther College, LC 210
University of Regina
Regina, SK, S4S 0A2
Tel: 306-337-2511  Fax: 306-585-5267
Email: resolve@uregina.ca
RESEARCH
 

RESEARCH:

RESOLVE Saskatchewan's research focus is based on the themes depicted in our Healing Wheel.

To view current RESOLVE newsletters please go to the RESOLVE Manitoba website.  To do an address change or be added to the mailing list contact Newsedit@umanitoba.ca
 

BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATS FROM U.S. REGARDING
CRIMINAL AND WORKPLACE HARASSMENT

This is a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the United States. Check it out at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/svus.pdf

It covers both criminal harassment and workplace harassment.  The two most interesting factors are the police response to victims and what stopped the stalker.  Only one other study in the United States is as focused and detailed and no Canadian studies  seem comparable.  Might this be an interesting study for RESOLVE partners with regards to intimate partner violence?

Family Violence in the Canadian ARCtic

ABOUT PAUKTUUTIT:  Pauktuutit leads and supports Canadian Inuit women in policy development and community projects in all areas of interest to them, for the social, cultural, political and economic betterment of the women, their families and communities. Pauktuutit fosters greater awareness of the needs of Inuit women, advocates for equity and social improvements, and encourages their participation in the community, regional and national life of Canada.

To see the whole PowerPoint presentation, please click here.

native women's association of canada

WHAT THEIR STORIES TELL US: RESEARCH
FINDINGS FROM THE SISTERS IN SPIRIT INITIATIVE

As of March 31, 2010, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has gathered information about the disappearance or death of more than 580 Aboriginal women and girls across Canada. This finding is the result of quantitative and qualitative research carried out over a period of five years. In 2005, NWAC secured funding for the Sisters In Spirit initiative – a five-year research, education and policy initiative supported by Status of Women Canada – to address the root causes, circumstances and trends of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. NWAC has collected the evidence to document, in systematic way, issues of violence that women, families, and communities had been pointing to for the last generation.

 Sisters in Spirit 2010 Research Findings
 

stats canada daily - october 16-09

Study: Family violence and shelters for abused women 2007

Family violence accounted for about 23% of all police-reported violent crime in 2007. Of the nearly 75,800 incidents of police-reported family violence, about 40,200, or 53%, were violent incidents perpetrated by a current or former spouse or common-law partner. Spousal violence was more likely to occur between current spouses or common-law partners than between former spouses or partners.

To see all the stats go to page 6 here.

RANKIN INLET SPOUSAL ASSAULT COUNSELLING
PILOT PROGRAM - FINAL REPORT

Executive Summary:

To view the full report, click here.

family violence in canada -
a statistical profile (2009)

This is the twelfth annual Family Violence in Canada report produced by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics under the Federal Family Violence Initiative. This annual report provides the most current data on the nature and extent of family violence in Canada, as well as trends over time, as part of the ongoing initiative to inform policy makers and the public about family violence issues.

Each year the report has a different focus. This year, the focus of the report is a profile of shelters that provide residential services to women and children fleeing abusive situations. Data for this profile come from the Transition Home Survey, a biennial census of residential facilities for female victims of family violence in Canada.

In addition, using police-reported data, the report also presents fact sheets, data tables and figures examining spousal violence, family violence against children and youth, family violence against seniors (aged 65 years and older), and family-related homicides.

To see the full reporting, please click here.
 

RESIDENTS OF CANADA'S SHELTERS
FOR ABUSED WOMEN 2008

According to results from the most recent national victimization survey,1 approximately 10% of violent crime victims sought assistance from formal agencies with mandates to provide a wide range of support services to victims of crime. In Canada, shelters are among the types of agencies that support victims. Their main objective is to offer residential services to victims who are escaping an abusive situation.

The Transition Home Survey (THS) provides an overview of shelters in Canada that offer services to abused women and their children.2 The THS also provides a profile of the persons who reside in shelters on a specific day of the year. This Juristat article focuses on the residents of shelters that assist female victims of violence and their children.3 The characteristics of women residing in shelters on April 16, 2008 are presented, as are the reasons that led them to seek such support services, and the types of shelters they sought to escape the abuse. Departures from shelters and re-admissions are also examined.

Complete English or French versions of the report are available.

sleep studies in saskatchewan:
exploring the effect of intimate
partner violence on victims' sleep

Analysis of Saskatchewan data collected for the Healing Journey project suggest that victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) experience greater sleep disruption that women in the general population.  Meghan Woods, M.A., Ph.D. candidate at the University of Regina examined this relationship in her M.A. thesis.

To read about Meghan's study check out the February 2009 RESOLVE News.
 

RESOLVE SASKATCHEWAN PROFILES SASKATCHEWAN RESEARCHERS STARDALE WOMEN'S GROUP

Over the past few years, Stardale has delivered programs to girls in the Kainai First Nation (Blood) in Southern Alberta.  Through consultations with community programs, it was found that there was an alarming increase in violence perpetrated by girls. One community decided a research project was warranted in order to understand the problem.

The research project, entitled Violence in the Lives of Girls in the Kainai First Nation, and conducted by Helen McPhaden, Executive Director of Stardale Women's Group, was initiated by the Kainai First Nation in collaboration with Stardale.

Stardale Women's Group is a community-based organization that conducts research, designs and develops programs, and acts as advocate for Aboriginal females living in poverty.

To read more about Ms McPhaden's work check out page 4 of the February 2009 RESOLVE News.
 

VIOLENCE IN THE LIVES OF GIRLS
 IN THE KAINAI FIRST NATION

This publication was produced under the direction of Helen McPhaden, Executive Director, Stardale Women's Group, Inc.  The report was written by Janet Sarson, researcher and Associate of Blue Sky Planners and Consultants, and the literature was reviewed by Leslie Roach.
 

This project started because the school principal at Kainai First Nation (Alberta, Canada) was looking for ways to do something about the recent escalation of violence involving girls in the community.  He approached Helen McPhaden, Executive Director of the Stardale Women's Group, an organization whose activities focus on filling the gaps in services to women living in poverty.  Helen had worked before with girls, women and others in Kainai and had also worked with a community in Saskatchewan to address concerns similar to the ones the principal described.

Kainai is not alone in the changes it has seen in its community.  Over the last decade or so, many other communities across Canada have had to deal with increased violence and gang activity.  This include violence, aggression and gang involvement by Aboriginal girls.  There are many different ideas about why this is happening, but most people agree that, to some extent, violence in Aboriginal communities is linked to people's personal and collective experiences of racism and discrimination.  Historic experiences like the residential school system and government policies such as the Indian Act have left many Aboriginal people, families and communities struggling today with poverty, family and community break-down, substance use problems and violence.  Children and youth who are exposed to these kinds of things are more likely to become aggressive, violent, or gang-involved.

To view the whole report, click on the title above.
 

BRIDGING THE GAP: Criminal Harassment Victimization
and the Criminal Justice Response (Phase II)

Funded by:

Researched and written by:

Jill Arnott, Deb George and Stacey Burkhart


 ©Family Service Regina, 2008
   (helping families through life)

 

Abstract: Staff of Family Service Regina’s Domestic Violence Victim Services and Outreach Programs identified an overwhelming number of individuals whose lives were affected by criminal harassment, and recognized the extreme level of frustration experienced by these targets in seeking safe and concrete resolutions to this serious social and criminal justice issue. One on one work with brave survivors, involving shared frustration and concerns for safety, motivated an initial research project focused on identifying the primary areas of concern regarding criminal harassment; that is to say, we sought to identify and highlight the most frequently cited misunderstandings, gaps and barriers within this issue.

A significant aspect of Phase I centered on data gathered via the interview process. We met with individuals from as many areas involved in both the community and criminal justice response to criminal harassment as possible, in addition to spending time with and hearing the stories of survivors. This process allowed us access to a variety of perspectives, and one of the most significant findings coming out of the first phase of research is that those working within the system have many of the same concerns and frustrations as targets have. The manner in which these are experienced are no doubt very different, but the fact that they are shared across the boundary of ‘victim’ and ‘system’ validated our initial suspicion that this particular criminal offence and the surrounding issues need to be explored further to establish how we might systemically address it with greater degrees of efficacy.

Research becomes most valuable when it can be applied practically with the goal of visible and measurable change. Given the many individuals, particularly the victims, who were willing to give of their time and share their perspectives and experiences regarding criminal harassment in the hope of helping to facilitate systemic and social change, we were moved to go beyond simply gathering and analyzing data. We wanted to create something tangible, a tool people could utilize and apply directly to their work with this issue, something that had the potential to positively impact the manner in which this criminal offence is handled, and in turn, perhaps most importantly, victims’ experiences as well. It was this desire to make change that provided the inspiration and impetus for Phase II of this project.

To view the whole report, click on the title above.
 

THE HEALING JOURNEY PROJECT
 Email: healingj@uregina.ca
 Phone: 306-337-2629


"Happy families are all alike: every unhappy
family is unhappy in its own way." (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, 1873)

Watch this space for updates on the study as it progresses to completion.

About the Healing Journey:

Resolve Manitoba launched an ambitious tri-provincial study of women who had experienced violence from their intimate partners.  Our goal is to document the efforts women make to secure a safe and violence-free life for themselves and their family.  While all of the women participating in our study share the experience of intimate partner violence, they all deal with experience in very different circumstances.  In 2004 the RESOLVE team of researchers and community partners was awarded a $1 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to finance this study entitled The Healing Journey: A Longitudinal Study of Women Who have been Abused by Intimate Partners.  The project involves a longitudinal study of approximately 200 women in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

From the Research Proposal:

In the last two decades Canadians have witnessed an expanding number of services for women who have been abused by intimate partners.  Concurrently, there has been a growing body of research in the social sciences, which has increased our knowledge through quantitative studies of the prevalence of the problem and through qualitative research we have heard the voices of women who have endured such abuse.

While the research to date has been rich in information and insight, no Canadian studies have been able to follow women over the longer period required by many to achieve safety and comfort in their homes.  In addition, while there have been a few excellent comparative studies of access to services across jurisdiction, these studies have been limited to snapshot observations at one point in time.  The Healing Journey Project is building on the strengths of past research to provide a tri-provincial comparison of the experiences of abused women over a longer period of time.

The contribution of this research to community-based agencies is expected to be substantial.  The ability to follow a group of women over time, who have variously experienced assistance in shelters, counseling programs, utilized protection or prevention orders and may have experienced police and court interventions will provide agencies with a rich source of information on women's help-seeking behaviour, trajectories of healing, and children's issues.  The contribution to policy makers is expected to be equally substantial.  Through the voices of women and their lives and the lives of their children, we are learning about the most effective interventions, the challenges of breaking inter-generational cycles of abuse, the differential roles played by formal and informal help, and the merits of civil and criminal justice interventions.  The contribution to the academic community will follow and we expect to inform theories of empowerment, understandings of the link between social policy and personal/social change and the most promising interventions for child victim/witnesses.

The study is providing a rich source of research material in the fields of psychology, sociology, social work, nursing, law and education.

Watch this space for updates on the study as it progresses to completion.

Healing Journey Saskatchewan team members


Academic Coordinators are:

Carrie Bourassa, Regina site
Mary Hampton,  Regina site
Bonnie Jeffery, Prince Albert site
Darlene Juschka, Regina site
Wendee Kubik, Regina site
Stephanie Martin, Saskatoon site

Community coordinators are:

Maria Hendrika, Provincial
Deb George, Regina
Karen Wood, Saskatoon
Carol Soles, Prince Albert

THE CANADIAN OBSERVATORY

RESOLVE Saskatchewan is a partner in a new research project entitled, The Canadian Observatory, a SSHRC (Strategic Knowledge Clusters Program) funded $2.1 million project out of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research at the University of New Brunswick.

The Observatory project is led by Dr. Carmen Gill and is a national network promoting and coordinating multidisciplinary research on intimate partner violence and the justice system.

An initiative of this magnitude is unique in Canada and, as a national conduit between provinces and territories, in both official languages, the Canadian Observatory will enable the Alliance of Canadian Research Centres on Violence, partner organizations, and family violence researchers to work together more effectively to conduct research and develop initiatives on the justice system's response to intimate partner violence.  The Canadian Observatory involves people from across Canada and internationally.

Contact: Mary Hampton (mary.hampton@uregina.ca)