The Working Together initiative national team met on October 4 and 5 in Toronto after the first year of implementation to ensure that we are taking the time to review, reflect and refine project activities as they pertain to our goal – to practically address the root causes of violence against some of the most marginalized women’s communities in Canada.

The team featured organizations from all across Canada including Inland Refugee Society of BC, Warriors Against Violence, Regina Immigrant Women Centre, Across Boundaries, Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, Empowerment Council, and Saint John Human Development Council. What a powerful team it was!

The team is now all geared up to go back to their communities and work with mainstream services such as the police and hospitals to try to bridge the gap between what these particular women’s populations experience and how we as a society attempt to provide support. This project creates opportunities for non-traditional community-based discussions and strategizing in a space where everyone feels safe and the aim is to move forward rather than being problem focused.

We are particularly thrilled to have Joyce Fossella of Warriors Against Violence join us to share her ground-breaking approach for working with Indigenous men and families towards putting an end to the vicious cycle of abuse seeded in this country’s legacy of the violence of colonialism.