West Coast LEAF is proud to announce the release of Roads to Safety, the only legal handbook tailored to the needs of older women survivors of violence in BC.
In partnership with the Canadian Centre for Elder Law and with funding provided by the BC Council to Reduce Elder Abuse, we have created a 100-page plain-language resource for older women and their service providers designed to address a wide range of legal issues that are especially likely to impact older women.
As many women confirmed in our Older Women’s Dialogue Project, older women face high rates of violence and particular barriers to safety. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of accessible legal information about their rights and options. Recognizing that older women need access to a wide range of legal information all in one place, we created a handbook that touches on everything from capacity and decision-making rights, to immigration, to pensions, to protection orders, to property division after separation, and much more.
We have already heard from older women that Roads to Safety is comprehensive and easy to read; that it makes an important contribution to the anti-violence sector; that is makes readers feel that they are not alone and are not the only ones struggling; and that it contains stories that make the information engaging and easy to understand.
As a companion piece to Roads to Safety, we are also excited to be publishing a multilingual wallet-sized resource listing sources of support for older women in BC, coming soon! A version of the wallet resource focusing on specialized services for Indigenous women will also be available.
We are grateful to the many older women, frontline service providers, and members of the legal community who have shaped this project.
Download the free handbook at www.westcoastleaf.org/roads, and help us spread the word!