Scaling the Summit
Be the Peace Institute and collaborators
With funding from Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women
March 30, 2024 - March 30, 2024
This project is funded by the NS Status of Women O9ice to follow up on strategic actions from the conversations that took place at the IWD Summit in March of 2024, co-hosted by Be the Peace Institute and Leeside Society. That event included over 150 people with a stake in preventing and ending gender-based violence (GBV) across sectors in Nova Scotia. The aim was to explore moving forward in some new, innovative ways.
Since then, several working groups have developed on specific topics identified as priorities in the intersection of GBV prevention and response. These are open groups and we welcome more participation from anyone interested across community, government, academia, survivors, and elsewhere.
Working Groups:
GBV Sector Coordination:
Formed in response to the recognition that women’s organizations in the non-profit GBV sector face similar challenges but too often work in isolation. Our goal is to build coalitions and foster mutual support among people working in the sector through a community of practice, knowledge/resource sharing, and opportunities for joint advocacy and action toward common goals. Currently, the work of this group is focused on exploring the need and feasibility of an infrastructure for our collective efforts across the GBV prevention and response sector.
Activities: NS GBV Sector Survey – for all working in the sector or related to these issues. Exploring priority sector needs and the idea of an innovation lab/ coordinating infrastructure for the sector that would sustain the collaboration, knowledge and resource mobilization, and strategic collective action to move the needle on GBV in Nova Scotia.
Collective GBV Advocacy Agenda:
Initiated through the work of the GBV Sector Coordination Group, acknowledging the need for collective action to address the systemic injustices of genderbased violence in Nova Scotia. This group is an intentional space to collectively identify the most urgent issues/needs for the sector from diverse vantage points and to advocate with colleagues in government to address GBV issues most effectively.
Activities: Develop and implement an advocacy strategy, including goal setting, identifying target audiences, gathering evidence, communicating and raising awareness, and taking collective action on priority areas. To date we have reached out to all Nova Scotia political party leaders and media on needed attention and funding for GBV organizations and prevention efforts. This resulted in a meeting with the NS Executive Deputy Minister highlighting 8 key areas for action. We will continue these advocacy efforts and conversations after the election.
Population Health Approach to GBV Prevention:
This group is working on developing a framework to inform strategic actions for government/community collaboration to prevent GBV from a ‘root cause’ or population health approach. This approach addresses a range of Social Determinants of Health, like income, education, support, physical environment, gender, race, etc., to improve the health status of the entire population or a subset (youth, women…) The root causes of poor health are also the root causes of GBV. A very strong correlation in the Mass Casualty Commission report was that preventing GBV would also prevent mass casualties, and the way to do so is through investment in prevention, and public health strategies over carceral/justice responses. Ending GBV requires multi-sector collaboration, diverse strategies in diverse settings and a ‘whole of society’/ public involvement response.
Activities: Looking at key reports including recent GBV-related and international child wellbeing and commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth (CSEC) frameworks. Creating a ‘one-pager’ pitch to government identifying priorities for action and funding. Strategic conversations with community, govt and public health colleagues continues.
Planning the GBV Summit 2025:
This group has begun planning the next summit and seeking funding. Tentative-save the date: GBV Summit 2025: From Epidemic to Action on April 7- 8 @ Oak Island Resort and Conference Centre.
Activities: Proposal writing and budget, plus event planning: speakers, panels, facilitation, venue, logistics, communications to participants, and report writing to ensure a highly participatory, diverse and safe space and time over two days.
Addressing Violence and Harassment in Politics:
Women, gender non-binary, racially and culturally diverse people are regularly targeted by sexist and racist harassment, rhetoric and sometimes threats, when they run for office. This sometime dissuades them from running at all and can put them in danger when they do. This group is raising awareness about sexual harassment, misogyny and racism in the political process and strategies to address it before and after election.
Activities:
Violence & Harassment in Politics 3-part panel series –
November 19th - Political Representation: A History of Advocacy- Canada & Beyond How violence and harassment threaten Canada’s democracy and what actions are needed to address it.
December 3rd - The NS Context of diversity in politics
December 10th - A Vision for Change: Calls to action to eliminate gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination in Canadian politics.
Online Survey - to collect experiences & stories of harassment in politics for women, gender nonbinary and racially and culturally diverse people while they are campaigning, when they are in office or what dissuaded them from entering politics - to inform a public awareness campaign & strategies for action.
Healing Retreats for Service Providers:
Front line workers and leadership across the GBV sector are dealing with real and vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue working in this challenging field. High levels of burnout and turnover even as demand grows, increase stress on everyone. We need to turn our care-taking inward to ensure the well-being of those in the sector is prioritized and supported.
Activities: A pilot healing retreat for staff is being developed for January 2025. Scaling the Summit project can support other organizations who want to plan and host a retreat.
Emerging Working Groups:
Training in Dimensions of GBV:
There is no standardized approach to training interdisciplinary professionals or staff on GBV. Currently training is ad hoc, uncoordinated, piecemeal- each organization or department creating their own and potentially duplicating effort. This group will explore a collaborative approach to training and development across sectors and govt departments within a training hub accessible to all, so resources, training curriculum, trainers can be mobilized to increase the knowledge and capacity across Nova Scotia.
Collaboration among Dept of Comm Services and Community Providers:
A major barrier for survivors reporting GBV is the fear of intervention by Child Protective Services and the possibility of child apprehension. There is an opportunity now with the new service framework and policy manual at Child and Family Well-Being for some level of collaboration among caseworkers, supervisors and community-based providers in order to reduce the harm and trauma of system intervention for families and children, especially for communities typically marginalized by this system. How can there be new models for GBV-informed child and family welfare with a focus on support over surveillance?
*Collaborative colleagues involved so far:
Transition House Association of NS
Avalon Sexual Assault Centre
Kristina Fifield Trauma Therapy
Trans/Non-Binary Rights Advocacy NS
Second Story Women’s Centre
Harbour House
South Shore Sexual Health
We Worthy Women
Can’t Buy My Silence
YMCA GBV Prevention
YWCA Halifax
Immigrant Services Association of NS
Saint Mary’s University
Immigrant Migrant Women Association of Halifax
IWK Health Promotion
E Fry of Mainland NS
Association of Black Social Workers
NS Government Dept of Justice
NS Government Citizen Centred Approaches
Public Health (NSH and DoHW)
Lunenburg County Community Health Board
Priority Kids
Access to Justice & Law Reform Institute NS
Toronto Metropolitan University
MODL Municipal Councillors
Lawyers