Advocacy and Research
Aura Freedom is involved in numerous advocacy initiatives in Canada and globally that advance the human rights of women and girls, create policy change, and work to end gender-based violence and human trafficking for good. Everything we do is to bring our vision of freedom from violence for all women and girls to life.
recent ADVOCACY activities
Our Submission to the Status of Women Canada’s Femicide Study
Can we call it femicide, yet? Aura Freedom was happy to once again contribute to a study undertaken by the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women, this time for their study on Gender-Based Violence and Femicides Against Women, Girls, and Gender-Diverse People. In our brief, we lay out the urgent need to recognize femicide as an
A Deputation at the Toronto Police Service Board Meeting
presenting at the toronto police service board meeting https://vimeo.com/1031256960?share=copy#t=0 This week, our Executive Director spoke truth to power at the Toronto Police Service Board meeting on the rising rates of Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence in our city. Marissa highlighted our recommendation for a TPS-specific action plan to end gender-based violence which would be created with community stakeholders at the
Beyond the Epidemic Declaration
Beyond the Epidemic Declaration: The GBV/IPV Working Group Organizes a Sector-Wide Consultation in the City of Toronto Last year, Aura Freedom led the Urgent Call to Action that called upon the City of Toronto to declare Intimate Partner Violence an Epidemic in our communities. Building upon decades of feminist work, we led this Urgent Call in collaboration with Women’s Habitat of
Supporting Bill 173 as an Expert Witness to the IPV Epidemic
Appearing before ontario’s standing committee on justice policy for bill 173 On August 14th, 2024, our Executive Director recently appeared as an Expert Witness before the Legislative Assembly of Ontario’s Standing Committee on Justice Policy to support their study of the Intimate Partner Violence epidemic. The study was requested by Premier Doug Ford in response to Bill 173, which has
Hosting a Meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur
UN Special procedures & Aura freedom In August 2023, Aura Freedom organized and hosted a meeting at Toronto City Hall with the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Tomoya Obokata, and a group of more than 50 anti-human trafficking stakeholders and other human rights advocates in Toronto. We were happy to facilitate this meeting to allow the Toronto
Our Contributions to Canada’s Study on Coercive Behaviour
Is criminalizing Coercive Control the answer? Aura Freedom was happy to contribute to the study undertaken by the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women for their study on Coercive Behaviour in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV) and human trafficking (HT). In our brief, we lay out out the risks of criminalizing coercive behaviour and