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Springtide Resources Annual Report 2015-2016REPORT CONTENTSLetter from the ED page 2Training page 4E-Learning Program page 5Immigrant & Refugee Program page 7Women with Disabilities & Deaf Women’s Program page 8Youth Program page 10People page 12Our Funders page 14Message from the Board of Directors page 16Contact page 17

LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | CALL TO ACTION: “It’s time for change”First and foremost, we at Springtide Resources acknowledge our settlement on the traditional territories of the Huron-Wendat Nation, the Haudenosaunee (“People of the Longhouse”), the Anishinaabe, and the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation. As an anti-violence organization and settlers on this land, we name our complicity in colonial violence as we continue to work in solidarity, with compassion and commitment to the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This is the first call to action and we are committed to making this change.Change is needed and change is good, for all of us. Many changes have continued to happen at Springtide Resources since I joined the agency as their new Executive Director one year ago. We, the Board and staff, have committed to continuing to incorporate an intersectional understanding of gender-based violence, which is critical to developing a shared vision that identifies the ways racism, poverty, ableism, barriers due to lack of status, homophobia, transphobia, ageism and many other challenges intersect with our work to end this violence.We have identified the connections between experiences of poverty for survivors of violence in our Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women’s Program; particularly when issues of ability, status, age, race, religion intersect. We have made connections through the experiences of Queer and Trans spectrum youth in our Family Matters and Youth Mentorship programs; where we know and hear about ongoing experiences of violence at the hands of family members, educators, police and other people who hold power and authority over their lives. We acknowledge the connections for survivors of violence who experience precarity in their status as newcomers to our country through our Immigrant and Refugee Program; where experiences of being a refugee who has experienced state sanctioned violence along with family or partner violence becomes inextricable.This is where our work lies; in the place where we are unable to untangle the threads and where the true moments of change-making become clear. This is where we find justice in this work, in the lives and stories of our own communities and the communities we work with.“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” Cornel West - Academic, ActivistOutgoing Board member, Vijaya Chikermane, who has dedicated much of her life to community activism makes the connection to love in her address (see page 16), as does Cornel West, in the famous quote above. When we make the connection to justice, we see how love and solidarity can grow in the face of adversity, intolerance and hate. When our work centers justice; our responses to violence are more compassionate, more responsive and more loving. This is what the work of Springtide Resources looks and feels like each and every day; like what love looks like in public. Towards this end, some examples of our work this past year includes:

Development of ASL video legal resources with Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic and METRAC: Action on Violence for Deaf and Hard ofHearing communities.Beyond Borders: High Rise Communities Responding to Gender-Based Violence: The Immigrant and Refugee Program has continued its anti-violence work with cultural linguistic specific groups in three downtownToronto, high-rise communities; Moss Park, Regent Park and St. James Town.The Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women’s Program, with the expertise of our Accessibility Team, has conducted accessibility audits and AODA consultations of shelter and community spaces across Toronto.Strengths-Based Parenting Network (SPIN)continues to examine experiences of institutional violence people with disabilities face when exercising their right to parent.Published our newest online course entitled Group Counselling: Intersectional Approaches for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence designed to support those facilitating groups for survivors.Our Youth Program has created partnerships with various Queer and Trans spectrum youth-serving agencies to provide support to youth who have experienced harm in their families of origin and other parts of their lives.I want to take a moment to thank the dedicated staff for their commitment to centering justice in their work; as well as their unwavering supportunder my leadership. It has been an organic year of teambuilding, trust building and positive change. I also want to acknowledge the incredible leadership of the Board of Directors who have made this year of transition possible. Thank you to Maggie Panighel, for her leadership as Board Chair, the rest of the Board for your extraordinary commitment and to outgoing members: AJ Pilobello, whose financial leadership asTreasurer is unmatched; Vijaya Chikermane, whose activism and commitment to Springtide through her roles as Secretary and Chair, Strategic Planning Committee was unwavering; Angela Mazza, whose knowledge of Fundraising and Development had incredibly positive results with our most successful fundraiser to date in 2015 and to Constance Fourquet, for your invaluable dedication and expertise.To our funders, donors, supporters and volunteers, we can’t do this work without you. You embody a sense of love and justice through your ongoingrelationships with us; thank you all! As we enter a new year together, we continue to lay the groundwork for the implementation of our latest Strategic Plan. We look forward to continuing to honour our commitments to Indigenous leaders through their Calls to Action which will ground us in our commitment to work in solidarity with other movements so our collective work to end violence is connected and real change can happen.In solidarity,Nadine SookermanyExecutive Director - Springtide Resources

Trainings – In-Person Trainings

Springtide Resources provides face-to-face training for survivors and their friends and family, immigrant and refugee communities, educators, counsellors, students, community groups, health centres, faith communities, housing organizations, shelters, disability and Deaf specific organizations, and others working to end gender-based violence.

Please find below a list of trainings we developed, facilitated, and/or coordinated in 2015-2016.

• Anti Racism / Anti Oppression• What is Gender-Based Violence?• Gender-Based Violence and its Intersections withImmigration Law• What is a Shelter and What ResourcesDo They Provide?• Priority Housing, Transfers and Toronto CommunityHousing Practices and Procedures• LGBTQ+ inclusion and Trans Accountability• What is Abuse 101?• Arts Based Approaches to Dealing with Trauma• Beyond Borders Project – Peer Leadership Training• Beyond Borders Presentation of Resources:digital stories on Caregiver Abuse, FamilySeparation Conflict, and Intimate PartnerViolence in Filipino communities, Bengali/English Tote Bags and Tamil/English Posters atCentral Neighbourhood House – December 6thCommemoration for Victims of Violence andRyerson University – International Women’s Day• Gender-Based Violence and its Intersections withMental Health Issues• Family Outreach Response – Service Provider Training• Gender-Based Violence and Immigration Policy• Humber College – Early Childhood Educator Students• Anti-oppressive Approaches to Working with Youth• Project Canoe – Staff Training• IPV Beyond the Binary: Service Provision for LGBTQ+Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence• Abrigo Centre – Staff training• COSTI Counselling Services – Staff training• Dr. Roz’s Healing Place – Staff training• Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter – Staff training• George Brown College Assaulted Women andChildren’s Counsellor/Advocate Program – December6th Commemoration for Victims of Violence• Mary’s Home Emergency Shelter – Staff training• Toronto Children’s Aid Society – Staff training

Can we design a training for your group?

For more info contact Nadine Sookermany at [email protected]

E-Learning Program

This year, the E-Learning program began investigating our accessibility. The coordinator of the program has started this investigation by participating in professional development to improve Springtide’sunderstanding of online accessibility and by working with the Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women’s Program to conduct usability testing. The process is ongoing and we hope to have made changes to our site that reflect our new skills in the coming year and every year.

The past year focused on four major e-learning projects.

• Be Aware, Prepare, Educate - Make a Difference for Children Exposed to Woman Abuse: The reach of this course for elementary educators has expanded. The original version of the course was launched in October 2014in partnership with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and with funding from the Ontario Women’s Directorate. Over the past year, two new versions of the course have been developed for designated early childhood educators and for primary school teachers who are members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association. The new versions of the course will be launched in fall 2016.• Detect, Respond, Refer: Helping to End Woman Abuse: Over the past year, this course for dental hygienists about their role in gender-based violence continues to be offered and promoted to professionals across Canada by our partners: Ontario Dental Hygienists’ Association, CanadianDental Hygienists Association, and British Columbia Dental Hygienists’ Association.• Group counselling: Intersectional Approaches for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: This course was refined over the past year with supportfrom consultants: Azza Abbaro, Paula Wansbrough, and Jacqueline Benn-John. The course content was reviewed by Ainsley Brittain to reflect the shift in Springtide’s approach from violence against women to gender-based violence. The course will be launched in the fall of 2016.

Connecting Legal Services to Interpretation: In partnership with the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic and with funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario, Springtide Resources developed courses for legal service providers and spoken language interpreters on how to work better together. Following the launch of the course for legal service providers in March 2015, the interpreters’ course was launched in October 2015.As of March 31, 2016 303 people had enrolled in the legal service provider course and 232 people had enrolled in the interpreter course.As one interpreter shared in their evaluation: “I have experience working in different legal settings, but I was not aware of connections and correlations. This course made it possible for me to put those pieces together and understand the legal service much better. I have recently interpreted at a first degree murder trial at the superior court ofOntario. [The Criminal Law module] of this course was a great help for me to complete this assignment successfully. Thanks!”

For more information about Springtide’s E-Learning programs,please visit: learning.springtideresources.org

Immigrant and Refugee Program

A Get Up Stand Up Year!

This year was a call to action to have our program at Springtide link the issues of immigrants, refugees, migrant workers and undocumented people with the struggles of Indigenous and racialized groups in our communities, city, country and world. Peer leaders in the Beyond Borders: High Rise Communities Responding to Gender-Based Violence partnership project with Central Neighbourhood House held a captive audience of hundreds at this year’s December 6th celebration. We presented arts based interventions dealing with gender-based violence in Moss Park, Regent Park and St. James Town in multiple languages. Digital stories on caregiver abuse, family separation violence and intimate partner violence were presented and discussed. Hand designed and printed cotton tote bags with antiviolence messages in Bengali and English were created and distributed. A bilingual Tamil / English poster series was piloted and launched later in the year. We also made connections with Indigenous issues and learned about histories of colonization between continents. We examined links between racial profiling, islamophobia, victim blaming, immigrant scapegoating and violence against migrant workers. We drewinspiration from Black Lives Matter and joined in their calls for justice. We are bolstered in our resolve that injustice to one is a threat towards justice for all. The Immigrant Refugee Program thanks everyone who participated in the training, development and creation ofthe Beyond Borders Project! We value the partnership of Safia Hirsi, Women’s Programming at Central Neighbourhood House and the generous funding of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women’s Program

As newspaper headlines continue to highlight horrific experiences of gender-based violence (GBV), the need to do further organizing and education around GBV and disability and Deafness is particularly apparent. When the system for reporting and accountability for GBV is rooted in a victim-blaming mentality, folks with disabilities or whoare Deaf face additional barriers in self-advocating and navigating the health and justice systems. This year we welcomed Melanie Marsden and Emily Gillespie as the new co-coordinators of the Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women Program (WDDW). The WDDW program continued to support existing initiatives such as Building Bridges Across Barriers (BBAB)and Take Back the Night. New programming included a partnership with Nellie’s Shelter to create the Women on the Move Program, which runs regular workshops on topics selected by participants related to intersections between gender-based violence and experiences withdisability or being Deaf. We also completed a round of ‘Healing through Creative Journaling,’ in partnership with Anne Johnston Health Station, which provided women with disabilities and Deaf women the opportunity to come together in a safe environment to explore their personal journey from victim to survivor of violence. We continued our work towards building a more accessible community, particularly relating to services for GBV. In coordination with community partners we are conducting a comprehensive accessibility audit of Nellie’s

to ensure that that the much needed safe shelter space is accessible to more people. Though long overdue, we are excited to share that more and more requests are coming in for accessibility audits from community agencies. We have put together a cross-disability team to respond tothese requests and are currently developing a formal accessibility audit tool. Springtide has been moving towards a more inclusive understanding of violence; that violence can be experienced by anyone, regardless of sex, gender or sexual orientation. We challenge the community to continue to expand thinking about violence and the intersections of violence and disability, particularly with other marginalized identities. We ask people to consider the differing experiences folks have of disability, be it in relation to a physical disability, mental health, intellectual disability or people who are Deaf or hard of hearing and to help to bring these conversations forward to other organizations, service providers, volunteer work, and the general community.

In loving memory of Lynda Roy, we are excited to continue our work over the next year, creating programming and educational tools that addressthe intersection of disability and GBV, focusing not only on visible disabilities, but also invisible disabilities such as mental health, and broadening our outreach with the hopes of including more people with diverse experiences in the programs we offer.

We have established a fund in Lynda’s memory, please visithttps://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/springtide-resources-inc/for more information.

Youth Program

2015-2016 was a Participatory Action year for Springtide’s Youth Program (YP)! We began by wrapping up an incredibly successful round of our healthy relationship skill-building workshop series, Family Matters. The young people involved gave powerful and detailed feedback on the experience, providing invaluable direction for Family Matters and the Youth Program more broadly. We have been partnering with several of these youth and their peers over the past year to research and develop an expansion and sustainability plan for Family Matters as well develop and implement our new Youth Mentorship Program. As part of this process, we worked collaboratively to get really clear about the who, what, and how of the amazing work that we do and the impacts this work is having.

Who did we work with?

Our YP partnered with youth navigating various forms of gender-based violence and oppression in their families, neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools, friendships, dating relationships, and spiritual communities. Our program participants were self-selected and seeking to betterunderstand, heal from, navigate, and end the harm they are experiencing/witnessing in their lives. We specifically targeted LGBTQ+ youth with overlapping identities and experiences (including but not limited to youth of colour, youth with disabilities, Deaf/Hard of Hearing youth, youth living in poverty, self-identified survivors) and who facebarriers as a result of their intersectional identities and experiences of and/or exposure to violence.

What did we do?We partnered with youth to improve their economic and health outcomes by working with them to remove barriers to safety, wellbeing, and success. We employed peer-led, mentor-supported, strength-based and trauma-informed models of positive youth development to empower youth with leadership and advocacy skills to end violence in their lives and create social-change in their communities.

How did we do it?Our Family Matters Program is a comprehensive (12-week) healthy relationship workshop series. The series is a one-of-a-kind healing and prevention program designed to offset the negative health andeconomic outcomes that result from familial violence and lack of familial support. We worked in partnership with housing services, counselling services, and legal services to ensure that the youth in this program have a network of communicating and complimenting supports.

Our Youth Mentorship Program provided youth with a minimum of 8-weeks of paid training and mentorship developing and carrying out a violence prevention project of their design. We offered a level of flexibility,accommodations, and support that allowed youth with trauma histories and/or facing multiple barriers to employment to have a learning and work experience that was affirming and transformative.

What has the impact been?Our programs and projects are designed to remove barriers to success and to help youth build the confidence, skills, networks, and social supports needed to imagine and build lives of financial, physical, and emotional security and wellbeing. We recognize that survivors of violence/trauma are resilient and work with youth to recognize and mobilize the unique strengths that they cultivated to survive experiences of hardship as dynamic and transferable skills.Our evaluations found that youth heal in the context of our Family Matters and Youth Mentorship Programs and that their perceptions of themselves and what is possible for their lives improved radically. Our participants reported increased skills, increased safety, increasednetworks, increased confidence, increased tools, increased supports, and an increased ability to mobilize their assets to create the lives they want for themselves. The structural barriers persist, but their ability to overcome barriers, to navigate systems, and to take care of themselves improved drastically. Our participants report an increased ability to identify the experiences, relationships, skills, and opportunities that they want in their lives as well as an increased ability to access andactualize them.

PEOPLE VOLUNTEERS AND BOARD MEMBERS

Board of DirectorsSpringtide’s Board of Directors continues to provide us with support and leadership. As part of their work plan for 2015 -16 the Personnel and Governance committees reviewed, updated and added to the agencies policies. The Board welcomed deb singh and Sara Mohammed to Springtide. We said goodbye to AJ Pilobello, Vijaya Chikermane, Constance Fourquet and Angela Mazza.

Board of Directors 2015-2016Maggie Panighel, ChairVijaya Chikermane, SecretaryAJ Pilobello, TreasurerNicole DesgagnesConstance FourquetAngela MazzaSara MohammedNadia Samjideb singhSheila Street

Volunteer ProgramWe are incredibly lucky to receive so much time andenergy from an amazing group of volunteers. Without youour work would not be possible. You enrich, broaden, anddeepen what Springtide is able to do and inspire us toalways take our work further. Thank you!

Volunteers 2015-2016Jelani/Ravyn Ade-LamSze-Yang Ade-LamFoz AshkirLinda BakerJacqueline Benn-JohnTamyka Bullenmelannie g. campbellRubina Chowdhourykumari gilesMargaret HagemanEsther IgnagniAmanda MitchellJasmine Ngan

Fran OdetteTrifona RamiroRushaan RashidShampa SahaRobin SimmonsLiora SobelMarsha SfeirShaunga TagoreDinaly TranBev WybrowRasathy YoganathanMunera Yusuf

We would like to thank all of the interpreters and attendants we have worked with this past year.

PEOPLE STAFF AND CONSULTANTS

Staff 2015-2016Ainsley Brittain – Youth Program Coordinator, Volunteer Program CoordinatorNadine Sookermany – Executive DirectorKaylen Fredrickson – E-Learning Program CoordinatorMelanie Marsden – Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women’s Program Co-CoordinatorTanisha Sri Bhaggiyadatta – Immigrant and Refugee Program CoordinatorEmily Gillespie – Women with Disabilities and Deaf Women’s Program Co-CoordinatorErna Opena – Office Administrator

Consultants 2015-2016

Azza Abbaro – Illustrator and Graphic DesignerJennifer Beer – Beyond BordersJacqueline Benn-John – E-Learning Content DeveloperCatharine Butler – Project Manager, Online LearningCassandra Coward – Beyond BordersNatasha Daniel – Photo Voice Workshop FacilitatorRuth Dworin – BookkeeperGenevieve and Stephanie Gordon – Beyond BordersMargaret Hagerman – Researcher, EvaluatorMETRAC Youth FacilitatorsNeighbourhood Legal Services – Beyond BordersAdvisory and FacilitatorYoon Hee Park – Network AdministratorFran Odette – Women with Disabilities ProgramPatty Porretta – FundraiserMelinda Suarez – Arts-based FacilitationBantchi Tamrat - Beyond BordersToronto Community Housing – Beyond Borders Advisoryand FacilitatorsRoxanna Vahed – Family Matters Content Consultant andCo-FacilitatorPaulina Vivanco - Beyond BordersPaula Wansbrough – E-Learning Instructional DesignerNaz Yirgalem - Beyond BordersSelamawit Yohannes - Beyond BordersYWCA – Beyond Borders Advisory Committee Member

OUR FUNDERS

Government SupportersCity of Toronto, Access and EquityCity of Toronto, Community Services PartnershipsMinistry of Citizenship, Culture and RecreationGovernment of Canada, HRDCOntario Women’s DirectorateOntario Trillium FoundationStatus of Women Canada

Organizational SupportersBritish Columbia Dental Hygienists’ AssociationBureau Kensington Inc.Canadian Council of Muslim WomenCanadian Dental Hygienists AssociationCongregation of Notre DameCorporation Sisters of Saint MarthaDaly FoundationElementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO)Fondation Alex U. SoykaFresh IntelligenceGeneralate Sisters of the Precious BloodGeorge Lunan FoundationJ.P. Bickell FoundationKPMG FoundationLaidlaw FoundationOntario Dental Hygienists’ AssociationSisters of Charity of HalifaxSisters of Providence of Saint Vincent De PaulTELUSUnited Way of Greater TorontoUrsuline Religious of the Diocese of London in OntarioVisitation ProvinceWomen’s Inter-Church Council of Canada (WICC)

Organizational MembersMuskoka Women’s Advocacy GroupNorthwestern Ontario Women’s CentrePeople in Transition Inc.Perth County Transition Home for Women Inc.Rainy River District, Women’s Shelter of HopeSym Engineering Ltd.Times Change Women’s Employment Service Inc.Women’s Shelter of York Region Inc.

Individual Supporters and MembersChristine AustinDeborah BarndtCindy BettcherSara BlakeSuzanne BondPaula BourneLinda BriskinToby and David Toby BrooksBeverley BurkeCatharine ButlerJesus CalderonEmma CampbellDean Vincent CarlsonMargaret CarterT. Marianne CheethamMalcolm ChengMary Jane ClinkardLee CormieRoxana and Michael CraneNicole DesgagnesJohn DillonKaren EdsonLeigh and Buddy EisenbergJoe and Jeanine EssayeRaymond FarrellFaith FeinbergJoyce FeinbergNick FillmorePatricia Marie FinkBarbara Fishbein-GermonWendy and Don FraserSuzanne GibsonSusan GoldTeresa GonzalezDaphne GoringLorna GrahamYola GrantNancy Emkin and GwynethGriffithMargaret HancockElspeth Hannan

Sandra HawkenPatricia and Richard HaywardTracy HeffernanJosephine HoJenny HorsmanMary Ellen IrvingElly and Tom Kaas BroadhurstBarbara KaneJoan and Marc KilgourMarion KirkwoodGertrude KnightonMichele LandsbergCatherine LangNancy LauCorinne LeonGwynne LongMadeline LunneyElaine LutesCarolyn MakAngela MazzaLorraine McDowallDonna J. McGrathMarilyn McLeanPatty MitchellMariela MoralesAlok MukherjeeGulmira Myrzakmat KyzyLeigh NaturkachJasmine NganEllen Nichols and Birbal SharmaElizabeth Anne NorthoverMyra and Charles NovogrodskyFrancine OdetteKatelyn OrlerHazelle PalmerMaggie PanighelLaarni ParasYoon Hee ParkJacqueline PelletierJanet Rose Pesklevy

Allison James PilobelloSonya PopovichPatty PorrettaGail PosenWendy PowleyMichael RachlisJudith RamirezElspeth ReadJoanne D. RichmondElizabeth Roberts and Paul SmithChristopher RoyGustave RoyKathleen RoyMarcelle RoyMichelle Roy McSpurrenSimone RoyLiz RykertNadia SamjiLionel SandersRosemarie SchoutsenRobbie and Brian SchwartzThereas SciberrasJay ScottShamim ShivjiShirley SmallRegina SolomonLyba SpringSheila StreetMarilyn Struthers and Judith SkuceBarbara ThomasSarah TurnbullDawn VetterKaren and John WalkerPaula WansbroughSusan WhelehanMarilyn WilcoxenLinda WilsonJoseph WohlgelernterBeverley Wybrow

Message from the Board of Directors

It has been an honour to have shared in the changes Springtide has experienced over the last year. As a Board member I have always been proud of our work and as an outgoing member, I am enthusiastic tosee how Springtide continues to grow under new leadership. Alongside our comprehensive work in educating practitioners across the country on the realities of gender-based violence, we have also made groundbreaking strides in working with Deaf and disabled communities, queer and trans communities and immigrant and refugee communities.Still, we are in changing times and more is needed. Our communities are rising up to demand more from our institutions, governments and neighbours and we need to rise with them. There is a growing and dangerous rhetoric that is breathing new life into oppressions that we have been fighting against for too long.

There is a sweeping rage enacted upon the campaigns that ask people to recognize how white privilege, patriarchy, hetero-normativity, ableism, colonialism and other oppressions hurt us. This rage is violent, it is hateful and it is disproportionately borne by our Indigenous, Black, Brown, Muslim, Queer, Trans, non-status and economically disadvantaged friends and family. But love and solidarity can grow when facedwith violence. We can respond by showing that our love for each other is stronger than the hate that can come our way. There is love in the movements and the tireless actions taken by our colleagues involved in Black Lives Matter, No One is Illegal and other movements acrossgreater Toronto and York Region.

Their peaceful and necessary actions are often followed by media attacks, hurtful backlash and problematic critique. It is a time for us as partners to not only cheer from the sidelines but stand in solidarity and join in collective action. Advocating for justice through solidarityis the only way to move forward. It is how we recognize the complexities and intersections of the people we work with. And it is how we can continue to strengthen our connection to community and remain relevant.In keeping with the theme of change, I look forward to the future. I look forward to the actions Springtide takes in fighting gender-based violence, to new partnerships and relationships and most of all, to us building spaces of healing and love together.

Vijaya ChikermaneOutgoing Board Member

Springtide Resources Ending gender-based violence215 Spadina Avenue - Suite 220Toronto, ON, Canada M5T 2C7Phone: (416) 968-3422Fax: (416) 968-2026Email: [email protected] us at: www.springtideresources.orgVisit learning.springtideresources.org for more information about our E-LearningsGet in touch with us on Facebook for updates on resources, online courses, new projects, volunteer opportunities, and community events.

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