Shockproofing Communities:

A National Summit for the Gender-Based Violence Sector

March 27-30, 2023
Shaw Centre, Ottawa

Thank you to all those who participated in our virtual and in-person Shockproofing Communities Summit events!

Without the support and engagement of all of you as delegates, funders, speakers, staff and volunteers, the Summit would not have been the success that it was. We hope the Summit was a valuable opportunity for you to connect with others in the gender-based violence sector, share promising practices, and gain new insights into strategies for preventing and addressing gender-based violence in times of crisis and beyond.

Watch Shockproofing Communities plenaries and virtual workshop recordings.

See the Summit program

Accessible version of the Summit program

What does it mean to “shockproof” communities against spikes in gender-based violence like intimate partner abuse and sexual assault in times of crisis and disaster? It means addressing long-standing gaps in services to prevent violence and equipping everyone to respond to abuse.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation and Women’s Shelters Canada is pleased to present the Shockproofing Communities National Summit, a national summit for gender justice and gender-based violence organizations and leaders, taking place March 27-30, 2023.

This interactive, peer-led event includes a Youth Summit Day, a two-day Summit with in-person and virtual activities, and a NAP on the Hill Day to discuss the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence with elected officials. This event will bring together more than 500 delegates from gender justice and gender-based violence (GBV) organizations within Canada.

Note: Registration for the in-person events below is now closed.

The Youth Summit is part of the Shockproofing Communities (SPC) National Summit, a special event co-organized by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and Women’s Shelters Canada. It will give youth delegates the chance to meet one another, learn about the work young activists are doing across the country and develop new skills.

Tips for getting to the event

Youth Summit Agenda

We hope this Summit will help Canada prepare for, respond to, and prevent spikes in gender-based violence in times of crisis and, more broadly, enable us to envision, collaborate, and spark anti-violence culture change. Let’s come together to exchange ideas, share lessons learned throughout the pandemic, and come up with strategies to shockproof our communities and envision a world without violence against women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people.

Tips for getting to the event

Brave Space Promise

Shockproofing Communities Summit Program

Some of our concurrent session presentations are available in both French and English and can be downloaded ahead of the Summit. Please see our program for more details on all the sessions. The French presentations are available on our French webpage.

March 28th – AM:

Community Stitch Project: Creative Community Engagement as a Tool to Raise Awareness & Build Collective Care – Comox Valley Transition Society

March 28th Leading Change – PM:

Leading Change: Centering Women’s Organizations in Gender-Based Violence Prevention – Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters

March 29th – AM:

Sexual Violence: Sexual Violence: Sociopolitical Issues and Community Struggles – Regroupement québécois des Centres d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (presented in French only)

Sharing Our Experiences to Create Safer Spaces – YWCA Québec (presented bilingually – simultaneous interpretation will be provided)

Safe at Home: Research and Applications of New Models – Rowan House and Women Abuse Council of Toronto

From Inclusion to Substantive Change: Best Practices for Trans Survivors – WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre

March 29th – PM:

Intervening with Systems to Create Sustainable Change – Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan

Improving Legal Practice for Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: The Integration of Coercive Control – Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale (presented in French – simultaneous interpretation will be provided)

With so many frontline workers and advocates from across Canada gathered in Ottawa for the Shockproofing Communities National Summit, NAP on the Hill is a timely opportunity for us to strengthen relationships and collaboration with federal politicians.

Our focus? The National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (NAP), launched November 9, 2022.

Our purpose? To explore ways our sector can help make the NAP the best it can be and how we can help accelerate key strategic elements.

Shockproofing Communities Reports and Resources

The Canadian Women’s Foundation and its partners have released several reports that are relevant to shockproofing our communities. While these reports address gender-based violence from different angles, they all attempt to answer the question: “How can we better prevent, eliminate, and respond to GBV in times of crisis?”

Watch: Gender-Based Violence in the Climate Crisis
Watch: Toward a Thriving Women and Gender Justice Sector

The Shockproofing Communities project is supported by:

Logos for Women and Gender Equality Canada and Government of Canada

Virtual Summit

If you are not joining the in-person Shockproofing Communities Summit in Ottawa, please attend our Virtual Summit, taking place on March 28 and 29 on Zoom. Plenary sessions will be livestreamed on Zoom from the stage in Ottawa, and two online sessions are exclusively available for virtual participants.

Read the full program.

Raison d’art Virtual Mosaic

On the occasion of the Shockproofing Communities Summit, Raison d’art, a non-profit organization that builds innovative art projects, proposed both youth and adult workshops, as well as an interactive exhibition that highlights their latest initiative: portraitX – an arts-based program that responds to the pressing need to address gender-based violence in schools. These activities ended with the creation of a virtual mosaic that celebrates the collaborative impact of the participants’ work.