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Family Violence Initiative About Family Violence in Canada"Family violence" includes many different forms of abuse that adults or children may experience in their intimate, kinship or dependent relationships. Family violence also includes being mistreated or being neglected by these members. As we gain more understanding about the kinds and amount of violence in close relationships and in dealings with other family members, the definition of family violence will continue to change. Some common types of family violence are:
Family violence can have serious—and sometimes fatal—consequences for victims and for those that see or hear the violence. Although the Criminal Code does not refer to specific "family violence offences," many Criminal Code offences could be used to charge someone with acts of family violence. These offences could be assault, sexual assault, criminal harassment (often called "stalking"), making threats against someone and murder. The Criminal Code also provides measures to prevent family violence, such as protection orders and certain procedures for protecting victims of family violence. For more information on the law that could be applied, please see Laws. How Widespread is Family Violence in Canada?We do not yet know just how much family violence there is in Canada. This is because if the victim does not report it to anyone, it stays hidden. The Government of Canada is working to increase our knowledge about family violence by doing research, studies and surveys. Some good national information has come from these sources, including:
Some Family Violence Statistics in CanadaThe above sources give us some idea about the extent of family violence in Canada :
Many experts suggest that the amount of family violence may be much higher than these figures show. This is because surveys, studies and police reports do not capture all cases of violence and abuse. For example, research has shown that many abuse victims do not - or cannot - report their abuse to the police. (For information on getting help, see For Victims of Family Violence) Most victims who do report spousal violence to the police had suffered more than one violent incident before reporting the latest abuse. For more detailed statistics, see Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2005 (and previous years). For more information on family violence, please see Justice Canada's Fact Sheets:
1 The spousal violence questions in the 1999 and the 2004 General Social Survey built on the earlier work of the groundbreaking 1993 Violence Against Women Survey (VAWS) conducted by Statistics Canada. 2 In the five years covered by the 1999 GSS. Data from the 1999 General Social Survey, as reported in: Mia Dauvergne and Holly Johnson, "Children Witnessing Family Violence," Juristat, 21, 6 ( Ottawa : Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada, Cat. No. 85-002-XPE, 2001). 3 In the five years prior to the 1999 GSS. |
Last Updated: 2006-07-06 | Important Notices |