FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2025
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre Demands Urgent Action Following Declaration of Gender-Based Violence Epidemic in BC
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh/Vancouver, B.C – The release of the Independent Review of Gender-Based Violence in British Columbia, led by Dr. Kim Stanton, confirms what frontline organizations like the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC) have been reporting for decades: gender-based violence is not only widespread, but also systemic, and largley ignored by those in positions to make the necessary changes, The report concludes that gender-based violence in BC should be declared an “epidemic”—a term DEWC supports, but says is only meaningful if followed by bold, immediate action.
The review details shocking realities: 94% of sexual assaults and 80% of intimate partner violence incidents in BC are not reported. The review also notes the unique and disproportionate impact violence has on Indigenous women, Black women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, sex workers, and women living in poverty. DEWC witnesses these impacts daily through its work with thousands of women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
We didn’t need another report to tell us gender-based violence is an epidemic—we are witness to it, every day. Women in the Downtown Eastside face violence at every turn: from partners, police, institutions, strangers, and the systems meant to protect them. It is relentless.” – Alice Kendall, DEWC Executive Director.
“We welcome the report’s findings, but naming the crisis is only the first step,” added Kendall. “What matters now is political courage, accountability, and investment. We are calling on the provincial government to act—not in six months, not after another consultation, but now.”
DEWC is calling for an emergency response framework to address the gender-based violence crisis, including:
- Implement recommendations contained in Forsaken, Red Women Rising, Reclaiming Power and Place, and Calls to Action.
- Sustained funding for low-barrier, women-only safe spaces with wraparound services including trauma-informed care, peer support, victim services and housing navigation.
- A provincial oversight body with power to monitor and enforce implementation of the review’s recommendations, including timelines and public progress reports.
- Mandatory training in gender-based violence, anti-racism, and trauma-informed practice for police, prosecutors, health care providers, and front-line service workers.
- Immediate investment in prevention, including programs that address toxic masculinity, consent education, and community-led safety strategies.
- Recognition and resourcing of Indigenous-led and frontline organizations, particularly those rooted in lived experience and cultural knowledge.
- Formal inclusion of community-based organizations in the newly announced Gender-Based Violence Action Committee to ensure that lived experience and frontline expertise shape the province’s response from the ground up.
“We are calling on the province to include survivors and frontline organizations at the decision-making table,” said Alice Kendall. “You cannot develop meaningful responses to gender-based violence without the voices of those who are living it—and those who have been doing this work for decades, without recognition or adequate funding.”
Government-led responses that do not include community leadership risk repeating the same systemic gaps the report identifies. The Action Committee must include representatives from Indigenous women’s organizations, 2SLGBTQIA+ advocates, racialized and immigrant women’s groups, sex worker collectives, and grassroots frontline service providers to ensure that solutions are grounded in lived reality—not just policy theory.
The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre has served women and children facing extreme poverty, violence, and systemic discrimination for nearly 50 years. DEWC offers survival services including meals, shelter, outreach, advocacy, and trauma-informed programming. In 2024 alone, DEWC provided over 100,000 hot meals and 12,000 crisis interventions, many directly related to gender-based violence and unsafe housing.
This report cannot gather dust on a shelf,” said Kendall. “The lives of women in our communities depend on what happens next.”
About the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre
Founded in 1978, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre is one of the few safe spaces for self-identified women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. DEWC provides basic needs, advocacy, and support to women and gender-diverse people experiencing poverty, homelessness, violence, and systemic oppression. Guided by the leadership of Indigenous women and those with lived experience, DEWC works to build women’s power, safety, and long-term solutions for justice.