Calls to Action for Municipalities

In the last years, more than 100 cities, municipalities and provinces have declared November 26 Economic Abuse Awareness Day, acknowledging the prevalence and impact of this overlooked form of abuse.

WHAT IS ECONOMIC ABUSE?

Economic Abuse is a form of gender-based violence that incorporates a range of behaviours allowing a perpetrator to control someone else’s economic resources or freedoms by denying them access to their money, exerting control over their resources, or leveraging intimidation and threats to constrain their economic freedom. Learn more about Economic Abuse.

HOW CAN YOUR MUNICIPALITY END ECONOMIC ABUSE?

The Canadian Center of Women’s Empowerment (CCFWE) compiled several tangible measures your municipality can take to support Economic Abuse survivors in your community and promote their safety and well-being. Send a strong message to your constituents that gender-based violence and Economic Abuse are unacceptable.

Awareness

1. Proclaim November 26 as “Economic Abuse Awareness Day”: Join a growing coalition of individuals, organizations, and over 100 municipalities across Canada and validate the experiences of victim-survivors of Economic Abuse.  
2. Be part of CCFWE’s annual Help Us Rise campaigns: Create a municipal initiative to raise awareness about this prevalent but overlooked form of abuse by sharing posts on social media and committing to supporting Economic Abuse survivors.
3. Host Economic Abuse workshops: Offer training workshops for municipal employees, law enforcement, and community leaders to recognize signs of Economic Abuse and how to respond effectively in a trauma-informed way.
4. Share information about Economic Abuse with your constituents: Have information pamphlets outlining signs and support around Economic Abuse available in the city hall and other public institutions. Periodically inform about Economic Abuse in your newsletters or media coverage.
5. Data collection on Economic Abuse: Close the current gap of available data on Economic Abuse and dedicate funding and resources to collect data to better understand how Economic Abuse impacts communities on a local level.
6. Incorporate Economic Abuse into policies: Consider Economic Abuse when deciding on municipal policies related to housing, employment, and social services. Ensure that municipal policies recognize and address the financial vulnerabilities faced by survivors.

Shelter and Social Support

1. Mobilize citizens to support shelters and other community spaces: Encourage citizens to drop care packages for women’s shelters or food banks. Be sure to inform citizens to check the needs of each organization on their websites or call them before donating.
2. Increase free legal aid and financial counselling to women fleeing violence: Work together and fund local legal aid centers to increase their capacity to offer free legal support for victim-survivors and their children.
3. Build recreation subsidies and child-support programs: Explore and adopt your own local models to lift your community. Survivors of Economic Abuse are often unable to afford childcare and recreation activities for their children, which hinders employment and access to healthy childhood development programs.
4. Mobilize equity funding: Dedicate a percentage of the municipal budget to supporting non-profit capacity-building programs, prioritizing local organizations in the violence-against-women (VAW) sector.
5. Take an intersectional approach to combat Economic Abuse: Hire multi-ethnic social workers who understand the cultural link to Economic Abuse to provide support tailored to victims’ cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic needs. Provide translator training for service providers and workshops on the rights and protections of immigrants through cultural community associations.
6. Fund entrepreneurship programs for Economic Abuse survivors: Establish Community Economic Development Funding Programs to empower survivors with micro-financing and mentorship for entrepreneurship. This helps survivors overcome financial barriers and fosters diverse, female-led businesses, transforming communities and redefining business success locally.
7. Establish safe spaces: collaborate with community centers, libraries, and other public facilities to create safe spaces where victim-survivors can access information, resources, and support services in different languages discreetly and confidentially.

Emergency Responses

1. Integrate intimate partner violence into your regional community safety and well-being plan: Adopt recommendation #10 of the Renfrew County Inquest, which can include funding and creating intimate partner violence response units (IPVRU) with police services structures. IPVRUs seek ways to build support via health and social services (such as shelters, crisis centers, hospitals, and healthcare hubs).
2. Provide training to emergency responders: Provide Economic Abuse training to all policing staff and first responders (ex. firefighters and paramedics) so they can be aware of its existence, the signs of it occurring, and how to help people who experience Economic Abuse.
3. Fund and create employment leave subsidies for people facing abuse: Dedicate a portion of the municipal budget to the creation of economic abuse paid-leave subsidy programs in your municipality
4. Fund and create an emergency financial assistance program: Establish an emergency financial assistance program to provide immediate relief to survivors facing economic hardships. These programs could offer unbureaucratic temporary financial support for housing, utilities, and other essential needs for survivors and their children.
5. Include the needs of survivors while addressing the housing crisis: Ensure the needs of survivors are consulted and addressed when combating the housing crisis. Lack of affordable housing is a common cause for survivors to remain in abusive homes. Housing support for survivors must extend beyond shelters and enter long-term solutions so they are not forced to return to abuse.

Additional resources on Economic Abuse

• CCFWE’s Policy Position Paper
• State of Economic Abuse in Canada report
• Provincial and Territorial Economic Abuse Scorecard

Contact:
Michaela Mayer (she/her/elle)
Director of Policy
michaela.mayer@ccfwe.org