Older woman - public domainGOALS OF THE PROJECT:

The Older Women’s Legal Education Project, a collaboration between West Coast LEAF and the Canadian Centre for Elder Law, aims to address a serious gap in existing public legal education resources: information tailored to older women fleeing abuse. Currently, the services that address elder abuse and those that address domestic violence do not always attend to the specific needs of older women and are not always in close communication with one another. The older women we have spoken to during our Older Women’s Dialogue Project have consistently identified elder abuse in the family, including ongoing spousal abuse, as an urgent priority. They have told us that they need better access to clear legal information on their rights.

Accordingly, this project aims to:

  • Strengthen the capacity of service providers to respond to family violence against older women
  • Help older women to understand their legal rights and options in situations of family violence by providing them with accessible, clear, and relevant information
  • Ultimately, enhance older women’s ability to escape abusive relationships

 

PROJECT ACTIVITIES:

The Older Women’s Legal Education Project includes the following pieces of work:

  • Consultation with seniors-serving professionals about the family law topics most relevant to older women fleeing abuse
  • Development of Roads to Safety, a plain language handbook on legal issues relevant to older women fleeing abuse, including:
    • Emergency information
    • Safety planning
    • Decision-making rights
    • Immigration rights
    • Getting legal help
    • Financial assistance
    • Applying for a pension
    • Applying for housing supports
    • Protection orders and peace bonds
    • Keeping grandchildren safe
    • Steps to protect yourself from financial abuse
    • Property division after separation or divorce
    • Resources for support
  • Creation and delivery of Older Women’s Rights Matter, a three-hour workshop and webinar to train service providers on supporting older women with legal challenges in the context of abuse

 

GET INVOLVED:

If you have feedback or questions about our project, would like to order our Roads to Safety legal handbook or wallet cards, or would like to book our Older Women’s Rights Matter workshop, please contact Alana Prochuk, Manager of Public Legal Education, at 604-684-8772 extension 117 or education@westcoastleaf.org.

 

PROJECT FUNDING GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY THE BC COUNCIL TO REDUCE ELDER ABUSE

FUNDING FOR 2017 REPRINTING OF WALLET CARDS AND HANDBOOKS  GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY THE BC ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY RESPONSE NETWORKS