<aside> <img src="/icons/report_red.svg" alt="/icons/report_red.svg" width="40px" /> We would like to acknowledge that our website has been created on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. This acknowledgment is particularly relevant as our website revolves around preventing gender-based violence in Canada. The elevated levels of gender-based violence that Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit experience in Canada today is a product of violent settler-colonialism and a means to maintain the legitimacy of the settler-colonial state. Ensuring the respect and recognition of the human rights of Indigenous peoples is vital to prevent gender-based violence.
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Gender Based Violence (GBV) refers to the violence that people experience due to their gender, gender expression, gender identity or perceived gender.
GBV is a pervasive issue in Canada. For instance, according to a 2018 report by Statistics Canada:
GBV disproportionately affects women and girls. Specific marginalized populations at risk of GBV or underserved when they experience these forms of violence include Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit; Black women; women of colour; immigrant and refugee women; two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender diverse (2SLGBTQIA+) people; people with disabilities, and women living in Northern, rural, and remote communities.
The severity of GBV within Canada elucidates the need to take action and prevent GBV.