CANADIAN HOTLINES

How can I get help if I am a victim
of domestic abuse or domestic
violence?
If you are in immediate danger of domestic
violence or have already been hurt,
call for help: 911

CANADIAN HELPLINES:
National Domestic Violence Hotline
- Canada1-800-363-9010
In both English and French.

Domestic Violence Hotline -
Canada1-800-799-7233 24
Also serves the United States.

What else can I do to protect myself from
domestic violence in the long term?
1. If you live with someone who abuses you,
you need to protect yourself for the long term.
2. If someone is stalking you, and you have a
feeling that you might get hurt, trust your
instincts and protect yourself.
You are in extra danger if your
stalker or abuser talks about murder or suicide,
or if you are thinking of leaving the relationship.
Women are more at risk of being killed if they
leave an abusive relationship, so they must
develop a safe plan for departure.
3. Take all threats seriously. To assure
your future safety, take some action to
protect yourself:
4. Contact a domestic violence hotline to plan
for your safe future.
People who are staffing the phones or email can
help you to plan how to protect yourself.
They can refer you to other services and
recommend shelters to stay in.
They can inform you about the laws in
your area, and they can advise you about
restraining orders.
5. Develop a safety plan that specifies who
will be with you when you need
companionship and protection.
6. Also plan for safety in your workplace
or at your school.
7. Call people who are willing to help you
and tell them how they can help to protect
you now and in the future.
8. If you have been abused in front of others,
ask witnesses to write down what they saw.
9. Contact the police if your abuser has broken
a law, or even if you just think they might have
broken a law. Assaulting you or stealing or
destroying your property is a crime.
10. Consider getting a restraining order to keep
your spouse or intimate partner away from you.
BUT>>>>>>>keep in mind that A
restraining order has no force behind it,
in and of itself; it is just a piece of paper.
The police can enforce the order only if
someone violates it, and then only if someone
reports the violation.
This means that you must be endangered in
some way for the police to step in! They will
punish the offender at that point.
11. Take a Self Defense course to protect
yourself.
ADDITIONAL REMINDER:
Delete any emails your send or receive
better yet use someone’s else’s computer

If you are worried about the privacy of
your email on your home computer,
you might want to set up a free email
account for yourself on the web.
If you set up an account
with Hotmail or Yahoo, for example,
your email messages will be stored on
the Hotmail or Yahoo server instead
of your own computer.