The Yukon is a large northern community with a population of approximately 47,000, most of whom live in the city of Whitehorse, with the remaining communities living in very rural and remote areas. The territory is also home to 14 distinct First Nations and eight Indigenous language groups, with their traditional territories covering the entirety of the territory. Like many northern communities, it faces a number of challenges including high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) — according to a Statistics Canada’s report, the third highest rate in Canada.

Since 2025, EVA BC’s Community Coordination for Survivor Safety (CCSS) team has been working to support the Yukon government to develop an IPV high-risk case assessment model inspired by the Interagency Case Assessment Team (ICAT) process in BC.

The Yukon Government contracted CCSS to act as a consultant to support and assist in the development of their high-risk IPV response process, including supporting the development of their manual and training. In March 2026, our Director of CCSS, Wendy Potter, travelled to the Yukon for the launch of the Yukon’s model, Coordinated Process for High-Risk Intimate Partner Violence, to act as a resource and support and facilitate their training.

“We welcomed this opportunity to support the Yukon government, and it is great to see that the Yukon government recognizes the value of the ICAT model we use here in BC to respond to intimate partner violence,” Wendy said. “Models of gender-based violence (GBV) coordination, such as ICATs and Violence Against Women in Relationships (VAWIR) tables, have been recognized as a best practice for working together across sectors to identify and address the highest-risk cases of intimate partner violence in both Dr. Kim Stanton’s 2025 systemic review of the legal system’s treatment of sexual and intimate partner violence ordered by BC’s Attorney General, Niki Sharma, and BC’s Chief Coroner report, Our Time to Act: A Review of IPV-Related Deaths in BC, 2016-2024. We encourage our government to support these models as well.”