Are they Canadian Citizens or Recent Immigrants/Refugees?
This report begins to tell the stories of a group of women in Canada who are often forgotten….. the many women across Canada who are Canadian citizens, (some have lived in Canada for over thirty years), who are abused by their husbands and who do not speak either English or French. These women are rarely the focus of programs or policies. They have become part of the unheard and invisible fabric of Canadian society. They have been in Canada long enough that it is assumed that they have “integrated” into the mainstream. If they are noticed at all, it is usually to blame or shame them for not learning English or French, for not becoming a “real” part of their new country. If their abuse becomes known, their suffering is too often dismissed as part of a culture that 4 4 accepts violence”. The real stories about their language isolation, about the meaning of abuse in their lives, about their experiences linking the abuse, their immigration to a new country, and the factors which contribu
