Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

Published purpose

Through this 30-month project, Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic will scale up its promising practices to prevent and respond to the criminalization of GBV survivors by adapting them to local realities in Alberta, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario. Regional court observations at four sites across the country will be conducted and key learnings will be discussed at a series of regional forums for GBV-sector organizations. The project will produce regional reports and a fact sheet-series on topics such as working with a criminal lawyer, applying for legal aid, coercive control, mandatory charging, and peace bonds. Partners, service providers and GBV survivors will contribute their expertise on regional realities, considerations, and potential adaptations. A national Community Engagement Working Group (CEWG) focusing on access to justice for criminalized GBV survivors and a series of multilingual fact sheets will be created to inform and to help them navigate criminal charges. Proposed law reforms and policy recommendations will be developed and shared as part of a policy paper and a national forum. At the end of the project, an evaluation report will be produced and key findings and lessons learned will be shared. Training, support, and implementation strategies will be provided to GBV-organizations to foster replication and expansion of the promising practices.