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Shield of Athena Family Services
In keeping with this objective, on March 16, 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced $348,150 in support to Shield of Athena Family Services of Montréal, Quebec, for a community-based project that will help to address family violence and acts of violence against women and girls committed in the name of “honour.” The project is expected to last 36 months.
The project, Contributing to the Prevention of Honour Crimes and Violence against Women and Girls: Developing a Community Screening, Information and Training Strategy, will raise awareness of all gender-based violence in the hopes of preventing future cases. The community-based project will train community liaison workers to promote awareness in their communities, identify at-risk situations and refer potential victims for assistance.
This project is receiving funding through Status of Women Canada’s Women’s Program. The objective of the Women's Program is to achieve the full participation of women in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada. Funding is provided to eligible organizations in support of projects that address the following priority areas: ending violence against women and girls, improving women's and girls' economic security and prosperity, and encouraging women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles.
Established in 1991, Shield of Athena Family Services is a non-profit organization for victims of family violence that offers culturally and linguistically adapted support, intervention and prevention services, as well as emergency shelter to women and their children.
Addressing so-called “Honour” Crimes and Violence Against Women and Girls
All acts of violence against women and girls are abuses of power and violations of victims’ dignity and human rights, and represent a serious infringement of Canadian laws.
Violence that is committed in the name of “honour” is a form of family violence perpetrated against a family member, usually female, who is perceived to have brought shame or dishonour to the family. These crimes often involve some degree of approval and/or collusion on the part of family and/or community members. As a result, victims have fewer options for seeking help or for leaving abusive situations.
Like other forms of family violence, crimes committed in the name of “honour” require a comprehensive response including prevention, protection, prosecution and partnerships.
The Government of Canada has supported a variety of projects and initiatives that yield concrete results for women and girls in Canada while strengthening families, communities and the country. These include:
- Making important changes to the citizenship guide, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship. The guide provides information on common Canadian values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law. These values include the fair and equal treatment of women and girls. The guide stresses that “honour” killings, female genital mutilation and all other forms of gender-based violence will be severely punished.
- Holding information sessions to educate law enforcement officials on “honour” based violence;
- Establishing a Government of Canada interdepartmental working group co-chaired by Justice Canada and Status of Women Canada, that focuses on forced marriage and “honour” based violence, under the auspices of the Federal Family Violence Initiative.
- Providing funding for projects that address violence against women and girls. Since 2006, Status of Women Canada has approved more than $50 million in funding for such projects;
- Increasing the criminal penalties for violent crimes;
- Launching a $10 million strategy to help address the disturbing number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women; and
- Taking action against human trafficking resulting in the exploitation of women.
