Family Violence

Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ women have a higher risk of experiencing family violence than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Understanding your rights and options if you are living with family violence can help.

Family violence is any behaviour by a family member towards another family member that:

• is violent
• is threatening
• forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour
• causes a family member to fear for their safety or the safety of another individual

The behaviour does not need to be criminal for it to be considered family violence.

In the case of a child, direct or indirect exposure to family violence is a form of family violence. The impact for children seeing family violence is similar to the impact of being directly abused. Family members include:

• any member of a child’s household
• a person one of their parents is dating if that person takes part in family life

Living with violence in your family is an extremely hard, even life threatening, situation. There are no easy solutions but there are laws to help people living in these situations. If there is an emergency the police can help you to get an emergency intervention order. An emergency order can:

• give you exclusive occupation of your home
• require a police officer to remove the abuser from your home
• require a police officer to supervise while you or the abuser takes personal belongings from the home
• order the abuser to not contact you and other family members
• order the abuser to not be near specified places where you or the family regularly go, such as the children’s school or your school or workplace

These same orders can be made when it is not an emergency, but a court application is needed. In these cases the court can also order that the abuser:

• pay you back for expenses like legal fees or dental work you needed because of the abuse
• give you access to things like your children’s clothing and passwords you need

It is important to know that what the law can do is limited. There may be steps you want to take such as preparing so you can leave in an emergency and making sure that your abuser cannot find out where you are by doing something like looking at your search history online or looking at your phone.

For more information about family violence visit famli.plea.org. For more information about abusive relationships visit the Abusive Relationships section of plea.org or order PLEA’s publication Abusive Relationships free of charge by going to plea.org.

Confidential 24/7 Women’s Abuse Crisis Line
Toll-free:1.888.338.0880

Indigenous Family Violence Programs
Community-based programs that help Indigenous families living in urban areas deal with abuse and violence. Programs are available in Regina, Prince Albert, Battleford and Yorkton.

Provincial Association of Transition Houses (PATHS)
Lists and provides contact information for emergency shelters, second-stage shelters, counselling and support centres and programs that are available across the province.