New multi-year project to examine violence against racialized women in B.C.

Warning: This story deals with domestic abuse and violence against women, and may upset and trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.

Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) has launched a multi-year project examining violence against racialized and gender diverse women in B.C., amidst an “exponential” spike in demand for its services.

In the past year, the Vancouver-based advocacy group reported a 300-per cent increase in calls for support as economic stress and social isolation increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We responded to just under 32,000 requests for service in 2020, which is up from 18,000 the year before,” said executive director Angela Marie MacDougall. “We’re seeing similar numbers this year.”

In the aftermath of those disturbing rates, this month BWSS launched a project called ‘Colour of Violence,’ which examines the relationship between race, gender and the systems that address violence against women.

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The project aims to establish a path to ending that violence and developing policies that better reflect the lived experiences of survivors.

“We want to quantify how the system is responding to Black, Indigenous and people of colour,” MacDougall explained.

To inform that work, the organization has launched a anonymous survey, inviting adult Black, Indigenous, racialized, and trans and gender diverse women to share their perspective. Questions focus on issues of accessibility and safety, and the structural barriers to anti-violence services in B.C.

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Junko M., a crisis line worker for BWSS, said improved services for racialized, immigrant, refugee and gender diverse women are desperately needed.

She spoke little English when she fled her own abusive relationship and said she felt isolated and overwhelmed.

“Being a person of colour, I felt completely alone in the system,” she told Global News. “There was no cultural safety or cultural awareness in the system so I felt scared and humiliated.”

There’s no limit on the number of women who can participate in the BWSS survey, which is timed with a provincial survey on B.C.’s upcoming anti-racism legislation that closes on Nov. 30.

Surrey-Green Timbers MLA Rachna Singh, parliamentary secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives, said the information BWSS’s project will gather is vital to address the dual crisis of violence against women and systemic racism.

“I’m very happy with the intersectional lens they’re adopting,” she told Global News. “Any woman, especially racialized women, when they go out for services — they should get the services, they should be believed.”

The Battered Women’s Support Services crisis line (1-855-687-1868) is available 24 hours a day for anyone in need of emotional support or practical assistance.