Grants and Contributions:

Promoting GBV-Responsive Family Justice Through Collaborative Law Reform: A Decentralized, Intersectional and Feminist Approach

GV230335

$850,000.00

Sep 1, 2023 - Mar 31, 2026

Through this 31-month project, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) will develop and put in place a promising practice for intersectional feminist legal reform: a collaborative GBV-responsive law reform model, which will strengthen the GBV sector. It will address the legal needs of divorced and divorcing victims and survivors of GBV, and work to specifically address the needs of Indigenous, Black and racialized women, immigrant, refugee and newcomer women, women with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, and women in northern communities, which may not have been sufficiently addressed by the recent amendments to the Divorce Act. To do so, the project will include a preliminary needs assessment involving consultations with legal experts and stakeholders, a review of existing data and research on the current state of the family justice system’s intersections with GBV, consultations with legal experts, stakeholders, and relevant organizations, and conducting a law reform methodology case study(ies). NAWL will also develop a law reform backgrounder, which will be used to increase partners’, legal experts’ and stakeholders’ understanding of the law reform process and ability to advocate for women’s rights within the family justice system. Through consultations with stakeholders in 4 of the 5 WAGE regions and adopting an approach of collaborative GBV-responsive feminist law reform, NAWL will develop a law reform position paper and a plan to advocate for GBV-responsive family law related to the Divorce Act, which will include an awareness-raising campaign, as well as the creation of materials to raise awareness among lawyers and the general public. An external evaluator will measure and assess the impact of the promising practice. NAWL will be working collaboratively throughout the project with a number of GBV-sector organizations who will be consulted and provide feedback on key project processes and outputs. The law reform position paper and the external evaluation will be shared with partners, supporters, and/or decision-makers. NAWL will also develop, publish, and share recommendations for legislative amendments to the Divorce Act, in the form of a position paper, memorandum or brief, to share information on the promising practice with others so that they may replicate it or expand upon it.

Women and Gender Equality Canada

Promising practices are incorporated by the GBV sector into new or enhanced supports for target populations.

Ottawa, Ontario, CA K1Y 2N2

001-2023-2024-Q3-00085

Contribution

Grants and Contributions

Not-for-profit organization or charity

National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL)

Gender-Based Violence Program

The purpose of the GBV Program is to strengthen the GBV sector to address gaps in supports for two groups of survivors: 1) Indigenous women and their communities, and 2) underserved populations (including women living with a disability, non-status/refugee /immigrant women, LGBTQ2S, gender non-conforming people and ethno-cultural women) in Canada. The Program provides grant and contribution funding to Canadian organizations to improve supports to help create long-term, comprehensive solutions at the national, regional, and local levels.