Shelters & Services

A button showing support for the Emily Stowe Shelter for Women and Children. The Scarborough emergency shelter for women escaping violence was named after the first woman doctor to practice in Canada.

This subsection contains material on feminist organizing to create, operate, and sustain a growing network of shelters and other services for women dealing with violence, including rape crisis centres, women’s shelters, crisis and counselling lines, legal aid, and drop-in support centres. Over time, this included developing programs oriented specifically towards Indigenous, racialized, and immigrant women, as well as for women in rural and northern communities.

Archival Materials

Buttons
aujourd’hui une maison, ce soir la rue

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Quebec

  • Language:

    French
Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
A button showing support for the Emily Stowe Shelter for Women and Children. The Scarborough emergency shelter for women escaping violence was named after the first woman doctor to practice in Canada.
Emily Stowe Shelter for Women

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Interval House was founded in 1973 by a feminist collective and is Canada’s first centre for women survivors of intimate partner violence.
Friend of Interval House

  • Year created:

    1973

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English

Documents
Alternatives to Assault: The Utilization of Emergency Shelters by Immigrant Women in Toronto (1982)

  • Year created:

    1982

  • Author(s):

    Marilee Reimer

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic: a service for women who encounter violence

  • Year created:

    1984

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    British Columbia

  • Language:

    English
Education Wife Assault – Resource List for the Native Community

  • Year created:

    1992

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Native Women’s Resource Center Toronto – A Guide for Native Women

  • Year created:

    1987

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, Inc.

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
NDP House of Commons Memorandum: Details of Cuts to Women’s Centres

  • Year created:

    1990

  • Author(s):

    Denise Blinn

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Notes on Nellie’s and Alternative Services

  • Year created:

    --

  • Author(s):

    Paula Fainstat

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Raffle: Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
Support Services for Assaulted Women (S.S.A.W.) Brochure

  • Year created:

    --

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English
The December 6 Fund of Toronto

  • Year created:

    1999

  • Region:

    Ontario

  • Language:

    English

Films

Still from "Sylvie's Story" depicting Sylvie, a white woman with short brown hair, speaking to a shelter worker, a black woman with short black hair.
Sylvie’s Story

  • Year created:

    1986

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Tina Horne

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    Quebec
Still from the film "Turnaround" featuring four white women of varying ages sitting on the ground talking.
Turnaround: A Story of Recovery

  • Year created:

    1984

  • Filmmaker(s):

    Moira Simpson

  • Language:

    English

  • Region:

    British Columbia

Periodicals

Friends of Interval House Newsletter

Friends of Interval House Newsletter – Fall 1994

  • Year created:

    1994

  • Publisher:

    Interval House (Toronto)

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English
Friends of Interval House Newsletter – Spring 1992

  • Year created:

    1992

  • Publisher:

    Interval House (Toronto)

  • Author(s):

    Sandra Janz, Myles

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)

  • Language:

    English

Toronto Rape Crisis Centre Newsletter

Toronto Rape Crisis Centre Newsletter – Vol. 3, No. 3 – 1978

  • Year created:

    1978

  • Publisher:

    Toronto Rape Crisis Centre

  • Author(s):

    Judith Posner, Valerie Varah, Gillean Chase, Darlene Chase, Shelley Glazer, Laura Rowe, Baba Yaga

  • Language:

    English

Photos

Photo of a banner highlighting violence against women and the impact of funding cuts to women's programs and services. It was part of the Banner Project, which asked women's groups across Canada to produce a protest banner that would become part of a huge banner in Ottawa. The goal was to show the strength and solidarity of women during the Third Commonwealth meeting of Ministers Responsible for Women’s Affairs in October 1990.
The Banner Project (1990): Battered Women’s Support Services

  • Year created:

    1990

  • Photographer:

    Amy Gottlieb

  • Region:

    National (all of Canada)