Committees

Support Services/Cultural Issues

The Support Services/Cultural Issues Committee is one of the largest and longest running committees of the council. Members include front-line counsellors, advocates and community workers who are working in the area of woman abuse in the City of Toronto. This committee provides an opportunity for members to identify and create ways to provide improved services that are responsive to the diversity of women’s lives and to better protect women and children’s safety, well-being and quality of life through enhanced coordination and accountability.

Many of the significant initiatives of the Woman Abuse Council have been initiated by Support Services/Cultural Issues Committee including the work on Responding to High Risk Situations; Best Practices and Diversity Project; Advocacy Trainings and Police- community Documentation Project.

The SS/CI Committee is a forum for its members to:

provide updated information regarding services and to network with each other
identify challenges to service provision
be available as a resource and consultation group to other sectors developing policies and protocols regarding woman abuse
inform policy development and practice
develop and implement action plans to effect systemic change

The committee members achieve their goals through a number of activities including:

educational presentations
guest speakers
information sharing between members
presentation and discussion of case studies
training opportunities
exploration of models and community development initiatives from other communities.

The committee members use the infrastructure of the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto to facilitate inter-agency and inter-sectoral collaboration.

The Committee meets the second Wednesday of every month. The Committee does not meet in July and August.

Recent Initiatives

Police Documentation Project - documentation logs are being developed for agencies to use to track police responses to woman abuse. Information will be used in partnership with Toronto Police Services to identify themes, trends and possible follow-up actions to improve the ability of community agencies to work jointly with police to effectively protect women and hold abusers accountable for their behaviour.

Bridging the Gap Sessions - a Shelter Committee and Support Services/Cultural Issues collaboration to bring together settlement service workers, frontline counsellors and shelter workers to address immigration and refugee issues through a workshop and follow-up activities.

Media Activism Workshop - a subcommittee and one-day workshop helped members develop knowledge and skills to engage and respond to the media about the issue of woman abuse.

Training - for responding to trauma and abuse.

Presentations including:
Toronto Police Services and Immigration Law.

Women’s Community Art-Fair Subcommittee

Information Sessions including:
Criminal Injuries Compensation Board
Victim/Witness Assistance Program.

Workshops:
Creating Connections: A Dialogue About Woman Abuse and Mental Health, Making Connections
Creating Change: Woman Abuse, Immigration and Refugee Issues.

The committee meets on the second Tuesday of the month in the afternoon. For more information or to become involved, please call 416-944-9242 or email francesca@womanabuse.ca