Cruel but not Unusual: Violence in Families in Canada

Picture family life in Canada. Does it include women or girls being murdered, on average, every two and a half days? Or the fact that intimate partner violence counts as nearly one-third of all reports to police? Or that child or elder abuse is more common than you might imagine? Written for students, instructors, practitioners, and advocates in all related fields, this expanded and updated third edition of Cruel But Not Unusual: Violence in Families in Canada offers the latest research, thinking, and strategies to address this hard reality in Canada today. Violence takes many forms inside relationships and families, and the systems charged with responding and helping can actually add to the harm, further isolating and endangering victims. Nowhere is this more evident than in intentionally marginalized communities, such as Indigenous, Black, people of colour, LGBTQI2S+, people with disabilities, and immigrant, refugee, and non-status women. From recommendations on resisting anti-Black state-sanctioned violence, to a call to action on partner abuse within LGBTQI2S+ communities, the book offers bold ideas for moving forward, highlighting the work of researchers and activists from these communities. Using a range of perspectives (feminist, trauma-informed, intersectional, anti-oppression) and including diverse couple and family relationships and settings (foster care, group homes, institutions), the contributors track violence across the life course, addressing the impact on the brain, trauma, coercive control, resilience, disclosing abuse, the MeToo movement, self-care, and providing practical case examples and guidelines for working with children, youth, adults, couples, families, and groups. The result is an authoritative source that offers new insights and approaches to inform understanding, policy, practice, and prevention.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction: Radical Resilience for the Times We Live In / Ramona Alaggia and Cathy Vine Spotlight: Radical Resilience—From Individual Self-Care to Collective Action GROUNDING OUR WORK 1 Violence, Trauma, and Resilience / Michael Ungar, Delphine Collin-Vézina, and Bruce D. Perry Spotlight: Guidelines for Trauma-Informed Practice to Build Resilience 2 Violence Against Women: A Structural Perspective / Colleen Lundy Spotlight: A Stalled Revolution and Ways to Move Forward 3 Easier Said Than Done: Disclosing Gender-Based Violence in the MeToo Era / Ramona Alaggia Spotlight: Ten Ways to Provide a Trauma-Informed Response to Gender-Based Violence Disclosures 4 Giving Voice to Women and Children Killed in the Context of Domestic Homicide: Lessons Learned from Death Review Committees / Peter Jaffe, Deborah Sinclair, Laura Olszowy, Michael Saxton, Katherine Reif, and Carolyn O’Connor Spotlight: Parent Alienation as a Shield Against Domestic Violence Allegations INTENTIONALLY MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES AND VIOLENCE 5 Systemic Oppression, Violence, and Healing in Indigenous Families and Communities / Cyndy Baskin Spotlight: Progress Report on the TRC’s Calls to Action 1 6 Black Out: State-Sanctioned Violence and the Black Experience in Canada / Roberta K. Timothy Spotlight: Recommendations for Resisting Anti-Black State-Sanctioned Violence 7 Linking the Structural Violence of Immigration to Gender-Based Violence Against Immigrant, Refugee, and Non-Status Women in Canada / Rupaleem Bhuyan and Margarita Pintin-Perez Spotlight: Building Leadership Capacity to Address Gender-Based Violence Against Non-Status, Refugee, and Immigrant Women Across Canada 8 Taking Up Power, Control, and Exclusion: Partner Abuse Within LGBTQI2S+ Communities / J. Roy Gillis, Shaindl L. Diamond, and Mariam Ayoub Spotlight: Community Call to Action 9 Violence, Protection, and Empowerment in the Lives of People with Disabilities / Sonia A. C. Sobon and Richard Sobsey Spotlight: Questions about Empowerment and Domination VIOLENCE ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE 10 More Than Just “Ghosts in the Nursery”: How Violence and Trauma in the Lives of Infants and Young Children Affect Parenting and Child Development / Angelique Jenney and Chaya Kulkarni Spotlight: Baby Amy and the Impact of Intimate Partner Violence and Trauma 11 Addressing Child Maltreatment in Canada: What Have We Learned? / Cathy Vine, Melanie Doucet, Nico Trocmé, and Barbara Fallon Spotlight: Three Ways to Reduce Child Maltreatment in Canada 12 “Correcting what is evil in the child”: Child Corporal Punishment and Canadian Law / Anne McGillivray and Joan E. Durrant Spotlight: Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting 13 Thinking It Was Love: Adolescent Dating Violence / Martine Hébert, Alison Paradis, Mylène Fernet, Andréanne Fortin, and Laurie Fortin Spotlight: SPARX, a Multicomponent Program 14 Whose Failure to Protect? Child Welfare Interventions When Men Abuse Mothers / Susan Strega Spotlight: Promising Interventions with Violent Fathers 15 “Change Your Number”: When Technology Intersects with Coercive Control, Intimate Partner Violence, and Legal Systems / Ramona Alaggia, Carolyn O’Connor, and Marsha Scott Spotlight: Domestic Abuse Act (Scotland) 16 Identifying, Assessing, and Counselling Male Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators and Abused Women / Leslie M. Tutty Spotlight: Working With IPV Perpetrators—A Scary Prospect? 17 The Sombre Side of Care: The Abuse and Neglect of Older People in Canada / Lynn McDonald Spotlight: Public Inquiry into the Safety and Security of Residents in the Long-Term Care Homes System Report Contributors Index

About the Author :
Ramona Alaggia, MSW, PhD, RSW, Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, examines gender-based violence from the standpoint of survivors and service providers. As the Margaret & Wallace McCain Family Chair in Child & Family, she promotes the well-being of children and families. Using a trauma- and resilience- informed lens, her research contributes to developing anti-discriminatory policies and practices for women and children living with violence. Cathy Vine, MSW, RSW, collaborates with diverse groups—young people, parents, researchers, practitioners, advocates, and Indigenous organizations—to advance their goals. Highlights include developing and leading a community-based response to child sexual abuse, promoting children’s rights and well-being through Voices for Children, supporting the Youth Leaving Care Hearings, and working with Indigenous researchers to promote cultural safety and Indigenous student success.

Review :
"Cruel but Not Unusual explores the dynamics and scope of violence in families and its long-term impact on women and children who experience it, as well as our societal response to it. Written for students, academics, and professionals in the field, the book offers new insights, critiques, and ideas to inspire and enhance our understanding and practice.... A valuable resource for moving us forward. '' - Lisa Tremblay, Herizons "This book makes a positive contribution to our understanding of violence amongst intimates, especially in terms of emphasizing the continuum of violence. The literature reviewed in different chapters is often extensive.... I do recommend this book for university and college libraries.'' - Aysan Sev'er, Canadian Journal of Sociology