Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

Royal LePage real estate agents help Canadians find their dream home. For those who do not have a safe and peaceful home, Royal LePage is also there, helping families in the neighbourhoods where we live and work.

Violence against women and their children is a significant problem in all communities in Canada. We are proud to be working with women’s shelters and our national partners to provide safety and hope to women and children experiencing violence and abuse.

Research tells us the following:

Violence against women happens in all cultures and religions, in all ethnic and racial communities, at every age, and in every income group
Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16 (1)
Every year in Canada, an estimated 360,000 children witness family violence (2)
On any given day in Canada, 3000 women (and their 2500 children) are living in an emergency shelter to escape family violence (3)
On average, every six days in Canada a woman is murdered by her intimate partner. In 2009, 67 women were killed by a current or former partner. (4)
Physical and sexual abuse costs Canadians over $4 billion each year (taking into account social services, criminal justice, lost wages and productivity, and healthcare) (5)

By supporting women’s shelters, we are ensuring that women and children have a safe place to go to escape domestic violence. With our national partners, we fund healthy relationship programs for youth and support programs that help women and children heal from their experiences of abuse and rebuild their lives.

For additional research on family violence, visit www.canadianwomen.org

1The Violence Against Women Survey, Statistics Canada, 1993. Although more up-to-date data would be preferable, no future Statistics Canada survey asked women about their life-time experience of violence.

2Behind Closed Doors: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children, Joint report by UNICEF, The Body Shop International, and the Secretariat for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children, 2006.

3Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2009, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada, page 12.

4Homicide in Canada, 2009, Sara Beattie and Adam Cotter, Juristat, Volume 30, Number 3, Statistics Canada, page 14

5Measuring Violence Against Women: Statistical Trends 2006, Statistics Canada, p. 34.