Awareness raising Activities and training

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Immigrant women are more vulnerable to conjugal violence because of their situation as immigrants.

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They are generally more isolated and have a limited social network. A large number of immigrant women do not know their rights, the resources available or the fact that conjugal violence is considered a criminal act in Canada.

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Women who have been victims of political persecution are afraid of authorities and do not rely easily on institutions which represent the government. Many women coming from countries where the police play a repressive role prefer to endure the violence than to contact the police.

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It is also possible that their new social environment justifies conjugal violence because of the frustrations that newly arrived couples feel.

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Among immigrant women, those sponsored by their spouses and those waiting to be sponsored are even more vulnerable to conjugal violence. They often believe and wrongly so, that they may be deported from Canada if they denounce the violence.

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MFI offers training sessions Double Silence: Immigrant women victims of conjugal violence, to health and social services professionals as well as to different community organisations which offer services to immigrants.

The objective of these training sessions is to raise the awareness of the participants regarding the difficulties faced by immigrant women victims of conjugal violence by proposing an intercultural approach in their interventions with immigrant women in order to improve communication and to establish a confidence based relationship.

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The training sessions are offered on demand.