Introduction to Family Violence: Difference between revisions

*For more services, visit www.vch.ca/our_services/find_health_services/find_services and search under “domestic violence”.

*VictimLINK is a 24-hour victim’s information and help line. Call toll-free 1.800.563.0808 from anywhere in BC to connect with a Stopping the Violence Counselling or Children Who Witness Abuse Counselling Program in your area.

*The Battered Women’s Support Services offers support groups, advocacy, counselling over the telephone and much more. The intake and counselling line is 604.687.1867 and toll-free 1.855.867.1868, and their website is www.bwss.org.

*The Vancouver & Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society offers counselling for victims of domestic violence and children who witness abuse, and can provide a translator for police or court interviews. The phone number is 604.436.1025, and the agency is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm from Monday to Friday. See their website atwww.vlmfss.ca.

*Family Services of Greater Vancouver offers a wide variety of services for victims of domestic violence, including programs relating to abuse prevention and trauma. Call 604.731.4951 or see their website at www.fsgv.ca. Also, in partnership with Family Services, the Vancouver Police Department operates a Domestic Violence and Criminal Harassment Unit that provides follow-up, especially if your partner has assaulted you violently or often.

*The BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses offers safe temporary shelter for up to 30 days for women and children experiencing domestic violence. They also offer group and individual counselling for children and youth who witness family conflicts and violence. Contact the society at 604.669.6943 in Vancouver or 1.800.661.1040 elsewhere in BC; also check their website at www.bcsth.ca.

*Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter operates a transition house for women and their children and a 24 crisis line for women who are trying to prevent or escape male violence. Call crisis line anytime at 604.872.8212, and check their website at www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca.

*Check a Directory of Victim Services and Violence Against Women Programs at www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/victimservices/directory/.

You may decide that the criminal court process isn’t the best way for you and your partner to deal with violence in your relationship. Crown Counsel may be willing to drop the criminal charge against your partner if he or she enters into a peace bond under section 810 of the Criminal Code. This involves your partner undertaking to keep the peace and obey certain conditions, for example, not contacting you for a period of time. If your partner obeys the conditions, he or she won’t have a criminal record. If your partner doesn’t obey the conditions, he or she can be sent to trial on the original criminal charge plus a new charge for breaching the peace bond.

Another option is to apply to the Provincial Court or to the Supreme Court for a protection order under the provincial Family Law Act. A protection order can:

The Family Law Act requires the police to enforce protection orders.

What if you are concerned about someone else?

Any one can apply for a protection order on behalf of someone who is at risk of family violence.

The ''Family Law Act'' says that if a protection order, including orders that are like protection orders made in another province or under the Criminal Code, conflicts with another order made under the Family Law Act, the parts of the other order that conflict with the protection order are suspended. This might happen if there is an older order for parenting time and a newer protection says that the restrained person cannot communicate with the children; the parts of the older order about parenting time would be suspended.