The Intersectional Feminist Policy Analysis (IFPA) framework.

This framework comprises various questions that are intended to interrogate policy during the review process. The questions are grouped according to major themes of feminist analysis and include equality; gender neutrality; multiple identities; context of the policy. Although this framework is mainly pursued to bring equality between men and women it also seeks to bring a balance between privileged and oppressed women [22, 28]. In this framework ‘oppressed’ is understood as a systematic denial which negatively impacts people’s ability to access resources, services of their surrounding communities for their wellbeing [22]. As such, it gives us an opportunity to understand migrant women’s vulnerabilities, the different forms of varying precarity around immigration status, stereotypes, prejudices about migrant women and the different ways inequality can be perpetuated or mitigated in policy formulation and implementation. In this study, the IFPA framework allows us to think about the extent to which policies have responded to the issue of GBV against migrant women, how their needs are addressed in the policies, and how policies maintain or create inequities between different groups of women.

Health policy triangle framework.

The HPT framework systematically reveals complex interrelationships in policy making and implementation [29]. The HPT framework focuses on actors (influential individuals and organizations); the context (political, economic etc.); the content (policy objectives, guidelines) and the process (ways in which policies are developed) (see Table 1)). [29] further argue that health policy analysis largely focuses on the content and neglects actors, context, and process. Thus, the HPT framework is useful as it will allow us to analyze the interconnectedness of the different categories and how they influence the extent to which these policies respond to the needs of migrant women.

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Table 1. Policy frameworks.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002919.t001

Intersectional identities.

The concept of intersectional identities received considerable attention in the federal policies that were reviewed. There was emphasis and acknowledgement of the different social classes that women occupy and the multiple identity markers that shape the lived experiences of migrant women exposed and at risk of GBV. Federal policies such as Its Time: Canada’s Strategy to prevent and address GBV (hereinafter referred to as The Strategy), and A Place to Call Home: National Housing Strategy, emphasize the need to prioritize the needs of migrant women and ensure that their needs are addressed in the provision of support and services regardless of gender, sex, and nationality. The contribution of pre-migration and post-migration conditions that intersect in exacerbating migrant women’s risk to GBV are also articulated in The Bill S7 Zero Tolerance for Barbaric cultural practices where the federal government commits to protect migrant women from harmful practices that threaten their health and wellbeing.

The subsequent development of provincial GBV-related policies also took into consideration the multiple identities of women impacted by GBV and their needs regardless of their racial background, gender, and sexual orientation. Many policies acknowledge the intersecting identity markers and ensure service provision is extended to migrant women experiencing GBV and resident in the two provinces. For example, the Ontario Works Act, Housing Services Act (2011), Victims Bill of Rights (1995), BC Housing and Women’s Transition housing and Support Program, and Victim Link BC ensure services are available to vulnerable women and denounce discrimination based on gender, immigration status or race. BC also put measures in place, through the Crime Victim Assistance Program, to ensure that all GBV survivors get adequate support regardless of gender, sexuality, race, or immigration status. Information regarding the accessibility of support and care is available in several languages, for example, Filipino, Punjabi, and Chinese. Interestingly, there appears to be an implicit assumption that migrant women’s experiences are the same with other Canadian-born racialized populations as their needs are bracketed with those of other minority populations.

State-market control.

Most federal policies reviewed touched on the aspect of promoting economic participation of migrant women exposed and at risk of GBV. Measures have been put in place to ensure that migrant women exposed to GBV are still able to participate in economic activities by prioritizing the health and safety of employees regardless of gender, racial identity, or immigration status. To illustrate, through the Canada Labor Code and the Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations of 2020, the federal government has put forward measures to address employment standards, protect all employees from workplace sexual harassment and promote economic participation. Employers are required to prioritize prevention and response to workplace violence by having a workplace harassment and violence prevention policy articulating the procedures to be followed in the event of harassment and violence. There is a consistent emphasis on the need to have policy measures in workplaces that ensure that victims of domestic violence get access to support and care while maintaining their employment or source of income.

At the provincial level, the government of ON and BC have followed suit and put in place policies and legislative measures with the core aim of protecting the rights of employers and employees in workplaces and ensuring that domestic violence victims are protected from abuse and violence that may lead to physical injuries and have access to care and support while maintaining their employment. For example, the Employment Standards Act, and Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in Workplace) make provisions of protected leave for victims of domestic violence by providing 10 days to 15 weeks in one calendar year to facilitate access to care and support for the victims and their children. In BC, victims of domestic and sexual violence have access to protected leave through the Domestic and Sexual Violence Leave which stipulates that “an employee can take up to 5 days of paid leave and 5 more days of unpaid leave per calendar year if they are impacted by domestic or sexual violence. If necessary, an employee can take up to 15 more weeks of unpaid leave”. Importantly, there are no clear provisions on some industries offering precarious employment (e.g., personal support workers, hospitality, and tourism industry) and impacted by COVID-19 on the extent to which they are covered by the policies. This lack of clarity may mean that policy provisions might end up not benefitting most migrant women in precarious employment and at risk of and exposed to GBV.

Equality.

Equality goes beyond dismantling gender inequality but also includes oppressions rooted in the intersection of multiple disadvantages such as race, class, and immigration status which can compound gender disadvantages. Analysis of the policies reviewed at the federal level revealed Canada’s commitment to promote equality in the prevention of GBV. To illustrate, The Strategy strengthened the federal government’s commitment to promote equality and the eradication of GBV. Furthermore, through the Canadian Human Rights Act, The Labor Code, and the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the federal government puts in place initiatives to eradicate inequalities based not only on gender but on multiple identities that increase vulnerable women’s risk to violence. Noteworthy in these policies is the clear emphasis on the need to eliminate discrimination against individuals from minority groups (migrant women included) based on their color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, immigration status, religions, or national origin.

At the provincial level, there is evidence of promotion of equality in the current policies. For example, the Employment Standards Act, Employment Protection for Foreign National Act and Housing Services Act in ON, ensures that the needs of women from vulnerable populations are prioritized and strives to protect their interests. Likewise, BC has made progress to ensure that gender differences and the resultant vulnerabilities that place women from minority groups at a higher risk of GBV are reflected in the provincial public policies. For example, the Domestic and Sexual Violence Leave has been put in place to ensure that women who are exposed and at risk of violence are not deterred from labour participation, and are allowed to seek care and support, even for their children affected by the abuse.

Context and visibility of women.

In selected policies, context, and visibility of migrant women refers to acknowledgement of the economic and social realities (in the countries of origin and destination) that shape their lived experiences of GBV (whether location, culture, or institution specific). Through the Bill S7 Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (2015), the federal government demonstrates its commitment to eradicate all forms of violence against women in the name of cultural practices and honor (e.g. female genital mutilation, honor killings)- practices that are common in most migrant women’s country of origin. Furthermore, some federal legislations were amended to demonstrate Canada’s intolerance of the such harmful practices; i) Immigration and Refugee Protection Act- now regard polygamy as grounds for inadmissibility and removal for permanent and temporary residents (ii) Civil Marriage Act-now promotes free and enlightened consent and (iii) Criminal Code- is committed to the prevention of forced marriages common among migrant women under dependency status.

While there are no specific policies focusing on the cultural realities shaping GBV experiences in BC and ON, we identified policies that are built on the federal government’s policies committed to the prevention and response to GBV through providing access to care and support. For example, the Victim Bill of Rights (ON), Occupational Health, and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in Workplace) (ON) are designed to protect migrant women exposed and at risk of GBV in workplaces. Additionally, the BC Housing—Women’s Transition Housing and Support Program, is dedicated to providing safe housing for GBV victims and their children.

Further, the needs of women from minority groups are visible as their insights are incorporated through a consultative process in developing various initiatives. The Domestic and Sexual Violence Leave in BC and initiatives such as VictimLink BC also provide information, referral services and immediate crisis support in 150 languages. ON policies such as The Poverty Reduction Act clearly states that poverty reduction strategies, “must recognize the heightened risk among groups such as immigrants, women, single mothers, people with disabilities, aboriginal peoples, and racialized groups”. This clearly denotes the inclusion of minority women including migrants who are at a heightened risk of GBV.

Equity and responsibility.

The principle of equity promotes fair conditions for all people to fully participate in society. The adoption of a gender neutrality stance in the federal policies dismantled the pattern of men being viewed as the public actors while women remain passive actors whose main role is caregiving. When women assume the role of passive actors, it makes them invisible, their needs not recognized and ultimately their abuse is shrouded in the culture of silence. The federal government has recognized the multiple roles that women have (caregiving roles versus labor participation and the associated abuse) and has made strides to develop policies that ensure women are able to participate in the workforce even when they are exposed and at risk of GBV. Although the federal childcare initiative, Toward $10-a-Day: Early Learning and Childcare, is still in its early stages and yet to be fully implemented, its aim is to make childcare more affordable thereby making it possible for migrant women exposed to GBV to seek care and support and not be deterred by childcare duties or work responsibilities.

The adoption of the Toward $10-a-Day: Early Learning and Child Care in ON and BC also eases the burden of caregiving, providing migrant women exposed and at risk of GBV the opportunity to access care and support when needed. Additionally, the BC government has the Affordable Child Care Benefit initiative which is a monthly payment to help eligible family members with the cost of childcare. Eligibility is dependent on income, family size and the type of care and residency status (Canadian citizens, permanent residents, convention refugees and persons in need of protection are eligible). However, it is not clear which ‘person in need’ is eligible and the policy excludes temporary residents on work and study permits who are equally vulnerable to GBV. Although the ON Health Insurance Program and the BC Government Medical Services Plan (BC MSP) aims to promote access to healthcare, we identified inadequacies (long waiting lists and eligibility factors linked to supporting documentation) that may compromise access to health services for migrant women exposed to GBV who might need urgent access to healthcare and non-healthcare services.

Gender neutrality.

Gender neutrality has been at the core of policy reforms at the federal level, and synonymous with the goal of equality in the prevention of GBV. The federal government has ensured that policies that are developed are gender neutral and do not discriminate against victims of GBV. This is illustrated through reforms in the language used in the policies that denote the visibility of migrant women and their experiences of GBV. The federal government has advocated for the use of languages that are not gender specific with the aim of reducing barriers to equal access to care and support for victims of GBV. For example, the use of “persons” instead of “men and women” in the Canada Labor Code; “foreign national” in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to refer to both male and female migrants.

At the provincial level, the Ontario Human Rights Code also denounces discrimination and sexual harassment based on gender, sexual orientation, and nationality among others and the use of gender-neutral languages is visible in most policies to ensure that all “persons” exposed to GBV can equally access support services as required regardless of nationality or sexual orientation. Furthermore, the Ontario Police Services denounce racial and gender profiling of perpetrators with the aim of protecting mainly victims from racialized populations. BC also adopted gender neutrality in the GBV related policies by ensuring that all “persons’ vulnerable to GBV have access to support services that are required and removed approximately 750 gendered languages in 70 BC laws and regulations to accommodate all vulnerable persons in their policy framework.

Categorization of migrant populations as racialized/minority groups in policies.

In most policies at the federal and provincial levels, migrant women are ‘bundled’ with racialized women and their needs are equated with those of non-racialized women regardless of their unique lived experiences of GBV. As argued by researchers [30], the migrant population is largely indistinguishable from Canadian-born racialized/minority groups in most policies. There is mostly racial or ethnic, or gendered categorization of women in policies, which does not reflect some aspects of migrant women (e.g., cultural aspects, nationality, or first generation or second-generation immigrants, length of stay in Canada). For example, newly-arrived migrant women exposed to GBV in Canada may have different needs as compared to those who have stayed longer and some benefits and social rights for migrant survivors vary according to legal status and length of residency in Canada [31]. Blanketing the needs of migrant women, who in most cases are multiply minoritized based on racial and ethnic background, gender, immigration status, education level, under the racialized/minority category promotes a ‘one size fits all’ intervention approach that might fail to capture the diverse unique needs of all migrant women.

Unclear protection measures of women involved in precarious employment.

Our findings also revealed the policy gaps that exist in protecting migrant women in the workforce. There are laws targeting migrant workers at both provincial and federal level, but there is lack of well-defined protection measures for migrant women in precarious work who are exposed to, and at risk of GBV. Given that precarious employment is largely gendered and impacted by immigration status and race [32], the absence of well-defined protection measures put migrant women in precarious positions and exposes them to abuse. Considering that precarious work is mostly dominated by migrant women who are often multiply disadvantaged, the risk of under-reporting GBV is high due to fear of losing their jobs and/or residency status. Although by-standers are important in disclosure of GBV against migrant women in workplaces, their role in reporting GBV in workplaces is not clarified in the policies reviewed, and ultimately breeds reluctance in disclosing cases of abuse in workplaces for fear of repercussions for the bystander’s own residency status and employment [33].

Dependent migration status and GBV.

The restrictions that are attached to dependent migration status amplify the powerlessness of migrant women experiencing GBV and constitute a policy gap in Canada. Migrant women often face barriers in accessing available support and remedies [21] and for women who are financially dependent on an abusive sponsor (spouse or employer), it becomes a complex problem. Although women fleeing from violent intimate relationships and abusive employers are accommodated in the policy provision, some provisions do not adequately address their needs. Inadequacies in the immigration laws and policies have been repeatedly highlighted by researchers including lengthy delays in processing applications for vulnerable women (e.g., under the Humanitarian and Compassionate class) [6, 34] and eligibility to claim social assistance and subsidized housing creates challenges for migrant women in acquiring permanent residency as they are deemed ineligible due to their reliance on social assistance. These inadequacies in the GBV-related policies and the minimal prioritization of migrant women with dependency status in obtaining secure residency status, reflect wide policy gaps with adverse effects on the health and wellbeing of migrant women.

GBV service provision specific to migrant women.

Our findings revealed the efforts done at provincial and federal levels to ensure that women exposed to and at risk of GBV have access to support services (e.g., housing, health services, and psychosocial support services). While access to care and support is crucial in the health and wellbeing of migrant women exposed to and at risk of GBV, there are requirements to access these services that are prohibitive for migrant women who are in Canada under uncertain or precarious circumstances. For example, to access healthcare one must apply for OHIP in Ontario or BC MSP as a legal immigrant or use medical insurance which might not be accessible to newly landed immigrants. The waiting periods and documentation required which might not be accessible to newly migrant women experiencing GBV present key policy gaps.

Unclear identification and referral process of trafficking victims.

Regardless of the federal and provincial government’s efforts to criminalize trafficking in persons (TIP) through the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking (National Strategy, the Criminal Code, and Immigration Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), we identified inadequacies in the identification and support for victims particularly at the provincial levels. Remarkably, despite recognition of TIP as a violation of the rights of women, there is no explicit indication of the nexus between TIP and GBV.

What we observe mostly at provincial level is the separation of trafficking and gender-based violence prevention strategies into distinct silos, with less emphasis on recognizing how TIP is also a form of GBV often experienced by migrant women. While the Ontario Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy 2020–2025 outlines the province’s efforts in combating trafficking, there is no clear mention of the deleterious effects on migrant women who are highly vulnerable, and this lack of clarity subtly equates the experiences of migrant victims of TIP to non-migrant victims. As argues by researchers [35], trafficking flourishes not because of lack of preventive mechanisms but because of the way that the policy landscape responds to it which may not be effective. In other words, the interconnectedness of trafficking and GBV against migrant women should be recognized and preventive mechanisms tailored according to their needs.

Unclear GBV intervention frameworks in the wake of pandemics.

Evident in the policies we reviewed is the absence of an emergency or pandemic preparedness framework, either in the form, of pre-emptive policy intervention, initiative, or guidance, to anticipate or quickly respond and prevent GBV during an emergency (health or other). The on-going COVID-19 pandemic left women vulnerable to repeated victimization resulting in injuries or death [17]. Although the federal and provincial government reacted to the greater threat of GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no clear and specific framework on addressing future pandemic and emergencies that may lead to an escalation of GBV cases. While lessons can be drawn from the COVID-19 intervention strategies that were drafted, replication of interventions can be ineffective based on the type and magnitude of the pandemic and the population groups affected. Consequently, there is need for clear intervention frameworks to cater for migrant survivors of GBV during pandemics taking into consideration that each pandemic brings its own challenges.

Gaps in addressing cyber violence at provincial levels.

While the federal government has provided a policy provision to address the effects of cyber violence through the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, gaps still exist at the Provincial level. In ON and BC, inadequate attention is given to cyber violence in GBV-related policies. Based on our review, there are no specific laws or regulations that specifically speak to cyber violence against women, let alone racialized women and/or migrant women; yet cyber-violence contributes immensely to the high rate of violence against women. Policies on cyberviolence against migrant women should not be equated with other issues that are related to cyber violence such as terrorism rather they should solely focus on cyberviolence as a form of GBV. Given the close link between cyber-violence, trafficking and migration, lack of inclusion of cyberviolence in the laws and policies does not only inhibit women’s ability to seek protection from law enforcement but exacerbates migrant women’s risk to GBV (including TIP). It is important that more focus be given to cyber violence as in most cases it is used to silence victims of GBV and ultimately deter them from disclosing the abuse [36].