The Muslim Advisory Council of Canada was pleased to participate in YWCA Canadaʼs National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence community engagement initiative in 2021. Our goal was to ensure that the diverse Canadian Muslim population has their voice heard while adding valuable insight and perspective in shaping our policy recommendations to the Government of Canada.
Gender-based violence can be defined as violence committed against someone based on their gender or gender identity and it is one of the most pervasive forms of human rights violations.
All communities are affected by gender- based violence, including the Canadian Muslim community. However, due to some data gaps such as lack of collection of disaggregated data (ex. race, ethnicity, woman and girls with disabilities, migrant woman and limited research on GBV during a pandemic, lack of documentation of prevention best practices during times of crisis such as a pandemic etc) the extent to which gender-based violence in racialized communities occurs is unknown.
Data indicates that gender-based violence disproportionately affects marginalized communities as a result of structural discrimination, gender norms, ableism, biphobia, homophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia, and xenophobia. While we know the gender-based violence is occurring at alarming rates across the country, in order to address the problem, we first need to understand that gaps that exist.
We recognize the gaps that exist in society and particularly, the Canadian Muslim communities and our goal is to be part of the solution in ending gender-based violence in Canada. Through our community consultations and survey, we gained valuable insight and perspective from survivors of GBV, community organizations working to ensure services needs of the community are being met and more.