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Send by emailNews: British Columbia to provide social assistance for non-status mothers fleeing abusive relationships
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Current Issue: 
Conditional permanent residence for sponsored spouses will put newcomer women at increased risk of violence and abuse
Visit the CCR campaign page on Conditional permanent residence for sponsored spouses
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Although immigrant, refugee, and non-status women experience the same forms of violence in their intimate relationships as those experienced by Canadian-born women, they also face particular barriers. A newcomer woman abused by her spouse or partner may suffer forms of abuse unique to the newcomer experience. For example, her spouse or partner may prohibit her from learning English/French or from working, keep her isolated in the home, threaten to take custody of the children, threaten to alienate her from their cultural community by telling people she is a bad wife/mother, etc.
One form of abuse faced uniquely by immigrant, refugee and non-status women is the threat of reporting them to the immigration authorities and having them deported. Many women fear deportation even if they have the right to remain in Canada, because their partner may keep them uninformed of their full rights.
Immigration, refugee and sponsorship processes often put one partner in a position of power over the other. The reinforcement of power imbalances works in favour of an abusive partner or spouse.
Newcomer women also face particular barriers to accessing justice and services. This often takes the form of lack of access to information on their legal rights and recourse, as a result of isolation or language barriers. Newcomer women in situations of violence also sometimes fall through the cracks between women’s organizations and settlement organizations due to a lack of awareness and training of front-line workers regarding the particular vulnerabilities and problems they face.
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For more information on the particular ways that newcomer women can be affected by violence, see this page on how immigration status can affect women in situations of violence.
We hope that through this web site and the e-mail list you will be able to gain access to a wide variety of information on immigrant, refugee, and non-status women's experiences of violence, what services they can and cannot access based on their status, explanations of the humanitarian and compassionate process, ideas for policy change, etc. We also hope that through the listserv individuals from across the country will have the opportunity to share their experience and expertise on these issues.