West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund has published a new position paper on women living without legal immigration status in Canada. We believe that current laws put women without status at risk. The focus of the paper is on women who are dependent on their spouse for sponsorship in order to gain status in Canada, and who fear losing their status or have lost their status because they have fled an abusive relationship with their sponsor.

Click here for full position paper

West Coast LEAF believes that substantive equality for women without immigration status requires legislation and policy that allows women who have experienced domestic violence a means to regularize their status in Canada without depending on the support of an abusive husband.This vulnerable group does not have access to social services and legal assistance that would allow them to safely leave abusive relationships. This puts women and their children at increased risk of violence, and increases their obstacles to education, health care, and the basic services available in Canada.

West Coast LEAF believes no woman, regardless of her immigration status, should be at risk of removal from Canada or separation from her children because she leaves an abusive relationship. Access to income, social services, and legal assistance should be made available to women and children in this situation.

To find out more about this issue in Canada and the necessary steps West Coast LEAF proposes to addressit, see our full position paper on violence against women without immigration status.