Forums

Forums are online or in-person events that typically happen yearly where we invite speakers to take a deeper look at one specific topic. Check out Forum webpages for more information on speakers and content. Some Forum webpages include recorded videos as well. 

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Survivor-Led in Practice: Supporting Intersectional Expertise and Leadership in the GBV Sector - 2024

This Learning Network Virtual Forum recognizes and honours intersectional survivor expertise and leadership in the gender-based violence (GBV) movement and sector. We bring together service providers, organizational leaders, and community advocates to share and reflect on what it means to be survivor-led and how GBV survivor leadership and advocacy can be further supported and amplified by upholding the disability justice principle of “nothing about me, without me.”

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Not Yours to Distribute! Intimate Images and Consent – 2023

This Learning Network Virtual Forum explores non-consensual distribution of intimate images of adults in the Canadian context.  An intersectional and sex-positive lens will be used to explore its forms and how it impacts different communities. Barriers to support seeking and trauma-informed responses to support survivors will be discussed. 

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Reinventing Our Campuses: Creating Real Community Safety to Address Sexual Violence – 2022

The Forum brought together culturally and gender diverse survivor, student, and advocate perspectives on current realities related to gender-based sexual violence and oppressions on Canadian campuses. Speakers focused on implications for policy and programs required to create inclusive, safe campuses. Participants learned about emerging, innovative, and culturally responsive online and in-person supports and programs for survivors, bystanders, and those who have committed harm.

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Looking Within: Anti-Black Racism and the Gender-Based Violence Sector in Canada - 2021

This Forum brought together the voices and insights of Black activists, advocates, academics, artists, and service providers from across Canada for a series of dialogues about complicity and accountability in the GBV sector on issues of anti-Black racism.

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Gender-Based Violence Work in Context - 2019

Presenters in this Learning Network Forum addressed both personal and structural aspects of gender-based violence work in a range of contexts, including working to protect children, covering gendered news stories, developing and using online platforms, and administering justice.

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Violence Against Women and Traumatic Brain Injury - 2019

This Forum presented emerging research on and promising practices for supporting self-identified women who have experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and/or Sexual Violence (SV) related Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Find out more about the day here.

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Sexual Violence & Consent - 2018

In this one-day Forum, we discussed the role of marginalization, power imbalances, privilege and accompanying notions of entitlement, and the many ways in which social disparities inform “consent” and patterns of sexual violence. This Forum was live-streamed across Canada on Wednesday, February 28, 2018.

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Gender Diversity in the Violence Against Women Sector - 2016

Recognizing the need to explore and understand the key issues surrounding gender diversity within an integrated and inclusive VAW sector, the Learning Network organized a Knowledge Exchange for invited participants to share experiences, enhance knowledge, identify barriers, and develop recommendations for moving forward. The Knowledge Exchange was held on November 14, 2016 and was attended by participants including survivors of violence, researchers, service providers, front-line workers, educators, and more.

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Exploring the Intersection of Domestic Violence & Sexual Violence - 2016

The purpose of this Knowledge Exchange was to create mutual learning through interaction between researchers and those involved in SV/DV practice. The day was designed so that research presentations provided the context for ensuing discussion which gave space to community advocates to bring their perspectives and reflect on the implications of what researchers are finding and the work that they are doing. The Knowledge Exchange was held on February 24, 2016.

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Intimate Partner Violence in Rainbow Communities - 2014

The Learning Network convened a Knowledge Exchange on Intimate Partner Violence in Rainbow Communities on November 13 and 14, 2014. The goal was to discuss issues that arose out of the collective experience and wisdom of the participants, to learn from the research, and to discuss potential next steps for training and education campaigns, community services, and for future research on IPV in rainbow communities.

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Social Marketing in the Prevention of Violence Against Women - 2014

The Learning Network hosted a Knowledge Exchange on October 29 and 30, 2014 about Social Marketing in the Prevention of Violence Against Women. Social Marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviours that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Social Marketing practice is guided by ethical principles. It seeks to integrate research, best practice, theory, audience and partnership insight, to inform the delivery of competition sensitive and segmented social change programmes that are effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable.

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Violence Against Women & Children’s Aid Society Collaboration - 2013

The Learning Network hosted a Forum on September 19, 2013 on VAW and CAS collaboration. The focus was on keeping children and mothers safe and engaging men who use abusive behaviours. The learning objectives included: understanding the issue within a gender-based analysis; identifying principles and practice strategies for engaging men who use violence; identifying risk factors and potential assessment tools for evaluating child risk in the context of domestic violence; and identifying promising practices in VAW and CAS collaboration.

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Human Trafficking - 2013

On March 5, 2013, the Learning Networked hosted a Knowledge Exchange on Human Trafficking. Human trafficking is a serious human rights violation and a clandestine crime. It is perpetrated primarily against women and children, and involves the recruitment, transportation or harboring of persons for the purpose of exploitation. The consequences of this gendered violence are devastating. The present stage of its recognition and intervention emphasize the need for relevant information and resources for community stakeholders working to prevent human trafficking, to protect those affected, and to hold perpetrators accountable.

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