Addressing gender-based violence in Saskatchewan through second-stage housing: an overview of research and setting new directions

Abstract

Saskatchewan, Canada, has some of the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in Canada, with statistics double the national average. The government of Saskatchewan does not substantively fund second-stage housing – a key mitigating solution to GBV. Nor does the province have a related action plan to reduce this violence and enhance the safety of women, gender non-conforming people, and children who are disproportionally targeted by GBV. This article demonstrates the outcomes of a knowledge synthesis on the intersection of GBV and second-stage housing across Canada. This research used an intersectional feminist approach to guide a literature review and NVivo analysis. This article’s results section demonstrates the importance of second-stage housing as it relates to the mitigation of GBV. The discussion section offers various recommendations collected across Canada that can be used in Saskatchewan to bolster the existing non-profit sector that supports victims and survivors of GBV through enhanced public funding and related supports from the provincial and federal governments. The article concludes by identifying three viable and urgent areas for future research: first, investigate the potential correlation between GBV rates and second-stage housing to examine whether support for second-stage funding impacts GBV rates. Second, identify and develop alternative assessment and evaluation metrics that shift quantitative reporting standards to qualitative understandings of success. Third, examine the interconnection between settler colonization and GBV that disproportionality targets Indigenous women through strengths-based, decolonial, Indigenous-led frameworks that are culturally appropriate and responsive.