Our goal is to see a Canada where every person living with violence is able to access comparable levels of services and protection, no matter where they live. Currently, the services people fleeing violence can access vary according to where they live in the country. Simply said, the services you receive should not depend on your postal code.
This report details the differences in resources, legislation, and services across Canada when it comes to domestic violence – differences in action plans, lengths of stay at shelters, government funding, shelter standards, Domestic Homicide Review Committees, tenancy acts, paid and unpaid leave from work, Clare’s Law and Keira’s Law, and tech-facilitated gender-based violence.
On average, a woman is killed every 48 hours, largely by current or former intimate partners. This Building a National Narrative report illustrates the variations and gaps across the country in keeping women safe. It is in part because of these varying levels of services and protection that WSC strongly believes that Canada needs a National Action Plan (NAP) on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
This report is a living document – tables will be updated regularly as changes occur across provinces and territories. It is not comprehensive – it is a desk review, reporting on what is available online to the general public. This exercise was much more challenging than initially anticipated because of the lack of accessible information and data on government websites, making it extremely difficult to find current and reliable information.
Although by no means exhaustive, it is clear from the tables presented that women fleeing violence in Canada do not have access to the same levels of services or protection across the country.
Women’s Shelters Canada continues to work to ensure that Canada’s NAP on GBV reflects the expansiveness of our country and the importance of ensuring that policies and practices (1) respond to the intersections in women’s lives and (2) recognize the needs of those marginalized by systems and society.
Read the full Building a National Narrative (2025 update) report here