On June 24, EVA BC welcomed the release of Dr. Kim Stanton’s highly anticipated final report, Independent Systemic Review: The British Columbia Legal System’s Treatment of Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence, a report that provides a clear roadmap for how to improve systemic responses for survivors with increased accountability and a focus on coordination. There is a call to action with nine recommendations for the BC government to address what Dr. Stanton declares is a provincial epidemic of gender-based violence in BC. The system-wide recommendations include:

• Declare that gender-based violence is a provincial epidemic.
• Create a strong internal government accountability mechanism. 
• Appoint an independent gender-based violence commissioner. 
• Prioritize support for prevention initiatives – including public education, services for men who use violence, and training for system actors. 
• Provide stable, core funding to hire, retain and appropriately train community-based support workers. 
• Deepen cross-sector collaboration – including funding and support. 
• Create a standing provincial gender-based violence death review committee. 
• Develop a collaborative gender-based violence data strategy. 
• Update the Violence Against Women in Relationships (VAWIR) policy – including creating a provincial sexual assault policy. 

“In this report, Dr. Stanton has captured the voices of survivors along with input from our community-based frontline anti-violence sector, who, through their work with survivors, see the systemic challenges and understand why survivors lack confidence in our overall response,” said EVA BC’s executive director, Ninu Kang. “We are grateful and thank Dr. Stanton for this critical report that creates the sense of urgency needed in BC to hold ourselves accountable to those who experience gender-based violence. We remain committed to working together and supporting community response programs, government and cross-sector partners to ensure the recommendations are implemented.” 

The report also recommends specific changes to existing legislation. We are pleased to see how aligned her recommendations are with the priorities EVA BC is advocating for:

• to provide dedicated funding for anti-violence programs and (currently unpaid) community coordination work;
• to update the VAWIR policy and create a provincial sexual violence policy; and
• to create an ongoing provincial intimate partner violence death review committee. 

You can read more background information and find links to the full report, an executive summary and supporting information on this summary page.