Women have created those safe places across the country but in most provinces, they are severely underfunded. Women's groups have always argued that ending violence against women is a human rights issue as well as a justice issue. Women should have the right to live free of violence and the federal government has an important role in ensuring that women's rights are respected. Jean Chr tien could begin his new third term on the right foot if he finally came through on the promise to provide federal funding for shelters and rape crisis centres that are on the front line in the battle to end violence against women and children. While there are few studies in Canada, U.S. studies show that a large proportion of women using welfare are victims of abuse.
Violence is usually the most extreme form of control exerted by an abusive partner.
Another study of four domestic violence shelters in Chicago found that 46 per cent of participants had been forbidden by their partner to get a job. Women escaping abusive situations need financial support. The recent comments by Ontario's Social Services Minster that he doesn't want battered women to become dependent on the state is both ignorant and offensive. Women who are fleeing the control of an abusive partner are dealing with enormous stress and emotional trauma, everything from fears for their family's physical safety and economic security to the ordeal of divorce court. The Cross-Sectoral Violence Against Women strategy group in Ontario has been waging an intensive campaign to move the Ontario government ever since last summer's terrible killings.