Information

May 2003

Health Canada activities relating to nine recommendations of the world report on violence and health

1. Create, implement and monitor a national action plan for violence prevention

Through the Family Violence Initiative, Health Canada coordinates Government of Canada activities on family violence prevention. Each of the 12 Departments that participate in the Family Violence Initiative incorporates violence prevention into the activities it carries out within its mandate.

In addition, the National Strategy for Women's Health addresses prevention of violence against women and girls.

2. Enhance capacity for collecting data on violence

Under the leadership of Health Canada, the Family Violence Initiative developed the Violence Against Women Survey, an internationally recognized victimization survey conducted by Statistics Canada in 1993. Statistics Canada collects similar data on victimization experiences of women, including information about incidents that require medical intervention, through the quadrennial Victimization Cycle of the General Social Survey.

The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect, implemented by Health Canada and the provinces and territories, is a surveillance initiative that monitors and reports on trends in the incidence and characteristics of reported child maltreatment.

In 2002, the Family Violence Initiative conducted a survey on public awareness which provided baseline Canadian data on public knowledge and attitudes about family violence.

3. Define priorities for, and support research on the causes, consequences, costs and prevention of violence

A decade ago, Health Canada, through the Family Violence Initiative, supported the establishment of an Alliance of Five Research Centres on Family Violence and Violence Against Women. Those internationally-recognized Research Centres, together with the Centres of Excellence on Women's Health and the Centres of Excellence for Children's Well-Being, continue to carry out research on the effects of maltreatment and on program evaluation.

4. Promote primary prevention responses

Through the Family Violence Initiative, Health Canada develops information to support health care practitioners who respond to maltreatment among the patients they see in their practices. This information helps practitioners to recognize signs of maltreatment and intervene appropriately. These information resources are disseminated through the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence.

Family Violence Initiative partner Departments, including Health Canada, promote public awareness of family violence through the publications of the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence and through Public Legal Education and Information programs across the country. In partnership with ethnic broadcasters and ethnocultural communities, they have also supported the development and dissemination of culturally appropriate radio and television programming on violence prevention for immigrants and refugees.

Health Canada has developed parenting programs and promotes positive parenting practices. Community-based parenting programs are enhancing the health and social development of at-risk children and their families.

5. Strengthen responses for victims of violence

Through the Family Violence Initiative, Health Canada has developed information about the health effects of experiencing family violence and of being exposed to it in childhood. Information about the health effects of violence, about the effects of experiencing violence during pregnancy and about health effects specific to children can be obtained from the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence.

6. Integrate violence prevention into social and educational policies, and thereby promote gender and social equality

The Government of Canada has supported the Family Violence Initiative and programming related to prevention of child abuse for more than two decades. Within a broader perspective on violence in society, the Government of Canada addresses violence in a wide array of contexts - legislation; policing and crime prevention; the correctional system; housing and support for emergency shelter for women and their children; community-based programming for Aboriginal peoples, women, parents and children; and population health promotion in communities.

7. Increase collaboration and exchange of information on violence prevention

As many of the above points indicate, the Family Violence Initiative represents a formal and systematic mechanism for collaboration and information exchange on prevention of all forms of family violence as well as abuse within relationships of intimacy, dependency and trust. Moreover, the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, administered by Health Canada, stands as the major nation-wide resource for information exchange on the topic in Canada.

8. Promote and monitor adherence to international treaties, laws and other mechanisms to protect human rights.

Though this area falls primarily within the jurisdiction of other Departments of the Government of Canada, Health Canada has collaborated with partner departments in formulating and supporting a variety of resolutions, conventions, declarations and other international mechanisms to protect human rights and prevention of violence (for example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women).

9. Seek practical, internationally-agreed responses to the global drugs trade and the global arms trade.

The Government of Canada will continue to maintain a balanced approach between reducing the supply of drugs and reducing the demand for drugs. As the lead federal department for Canada's Drug Strategy, Health Canada continues to coordinate and collaborate with its key partners to achieve progress. Examples of progress to date include new regulations on precursor chemicals, initiatives for substance abuse targeted at specific population groups and the promotion of alternative measures such as the establishment of drug treatment courts. These activities are in line with the 1998 United Nations General Assembly Special Session Action Plan on Demand Reduction.