This webinar is Intended for frontline workers who encounter clients dealing with gender-based violence (GBV) in their lives as well as for members of the general public who may be neighbours, friends or family members of people who have been victimized by GBV. The webinar provides an overview of the criminal law response to GBV.

Topics covered in this webinar will include:

The impact of criminal proceedings in GBV cases on other legal proceedings
What mandatory charging is and what impact it has had
What happens when the victim is charged
Why reporting rates are so low
Unique challenges in sexual assault cases
The role of publication bans
Lack of legal representation for victims/survivors
Alternatives to court (DVTO, restorative justice

This interactive webinar will use an intersectional feminist analysis/framework, recognizing that, while men, trans and non-binary folx can be victims of IPV, the victims of the most serious forms of coercive controlling and physical abuse, including lethal violence, are people who identify as women. The instructor, Pamela Cross, is a feminist lawyer who has worked on the legal issues related to gender-based violence for nearly three decades. See: https://pamelacross.ca/

If you or someone close to you is a victim or survivor of intimate partner or gender-based violence, you may find some of the content of this webinar challenging. We encourage you to put in place whatever supports you think you may need, including having someone with you, so you can engage in the webinar in a way that works for you, whether that is listening, or offering comments, or asking questions.

Registration deadline is Oct 21, 2024.