WSC Blog
Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission: The Last Recommendations Needed?
On March 30, 2023, the Mass Casualty Commission released its final report from its inquiry into the mass shootings in April 2020 in Portapique, Nova Scotia. Within its more than 3,000 pages and 130 recommendations were 17 recommendations specific to gender-based violence. We hope this is the last time these kinds of recommendations need to […]
WSC’s Kyla Tanner Talks New Second Stage Transitional Housing New Build Project
Last year, former Women’s Shelters Canada (WSC) Research and Policy Director, Krys Maki, gave us an exciting preview of the new Second Stage Transitional Housing (SSTH) New Build project. Made possible by a generous $2 million grant from the Slaight Family Foundation, the project will see WSC support up to 16 new second stage shelters […]
Workers supporting survivors of gender-based violence are demanding change
This article was written by Krys Maki, Director of Research and Policy. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. While the world went into lockdown at the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, shelters helping women who are survivors of domestic violence remained open. In fact, […]
Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission: Women’s Shelters Canada Attends the Mass Casualty Commission
At the end of August, WSC’s Kaitlin Geiger-Bardswich (Director of Communications, Development, and Grants) travelled to Halifax to appear on a participant consultation panel with other gender-based violence (GBV) organizations at the Mass Casualty Commission. The expert panel consisted of GBV leaders from Nova Scotia and across the country, including Emily Stewart, Executive Director of […]
How WSC is Commemorating the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Today, September 30, is the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As a settler organization, staff at Women’s Shelters Canada have decided to not take the federal holiday as a day off work, but rather actively spend a good portion of the day engaging with resources related to residential schools and reconciliation. As […]
Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission: When Will We Stop Blaming Survivors?
It’s a refrain survivors and those working to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence hear all the time
Reconnecting after Isolation: A Conversation with PEACE Project Participant Amanda Dynes
Over the past few months, Women’s Shelters Canada (WSC) has been working alongside the BC Society of Transition Houses (BCSTH) to implement the national, three-year PEACE for Canadian Children & Youth project to enhance the capacity of northern, rural, and remote shelters working with children and youth who have experienced and/or witnessed gender-based violence. WSC’s […]
The Importance of Keira’s Law
“She was articulate and bright with a scientific mind. When she heard about injustice in the world, she was mad and wanted to do something to help.” – Jennifer Kagan-Viater, about Keira Kagan In February 2020, a month before the outbreak of a global pandemic that would shake the world, a little girl by the […]
Women’s Shelters Canada’s Participation in the Mass Casualty Commission
March 7, 2022 Last month, on February 22, the Mass Casualty Commission began its public proceedings. As stated on its website, this commission is “the independent public inquiry created to examine the April 18-19, 2020 mass casualty in Nova Scotia and to provide meaningful recommendations to keep communities safe in the future.” On the evening […]
WSC’s Krys Maki Talks New Second Stage Shelter Project, $2M Grant from Slaight Family Foundation
In September 2020, Women’s Shelters Canada (WSC) released a ground-breaking report on second stage shelters entitled, Breaking the Cycle of Abuse and Closing the Housing Gap: Second Stage Shelters in Canada. Nominated for the Canada Community-Based Research award that year, the report examines the importance of second stage shelters on the spectrum of supports available […]
