Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses

Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses OAITH works to educate and promote change for all women experiencing violence through VAW training and action with Ontario VAW Organizations

“If you are not counted, you don’t count.”These words were originally spoken to expose how excluding women from homeless...
06/19/2026

“If you are not counted, you don’t count.”

These words were originally spoken to expose how excluding women from homelessness data keeps their experiences hidden. But today, this exact truth applies to Ontario’s ongoing femicide crisis. When we fail to rigidly track, measure, and enforce system accountability, the structural failures that kill women remain completely invisible.

The cost of this invisibility is laid bare in this month’s data:

📊 The Reality: Stagnant Numbers
With 16 confirmed femicides in Ontario so far this year, the province is seeing the exact same heartbreaking numbers as this time last year.

🛑 The Gap: Stalled Action
While new funding and stronger laws have rolled out, critical safety recommendations from past public inquests are still stalling instead of being put into action. Passing laws isn’t enough if the ex*****on is left unmonitored.

✊ The Solution: System Accountability
To protect survivors and stop these preventable deaths, we need a clear, dedicated mechanism to track how different systems work together and hold them accountable.

Invisibility is a tool of systemic failure. Whether it is hidden homelessness or un-tracked inquest recommendations, we must demand a system that counts the gaps, names the crisis, and acts before another life is lost.

🔗Link in bio for full report

Carolyn Whitzman

June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and it’s time to bring a deeply hidden crisis into the light.According to ...
06/15/2026

June 15th is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and it’s time to bring a deeply hidden crisis into the light.

According to Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario elder abuse isn’t just a one-time occurrence—it’s a recurring cycle in up to 80% of cases. Whether it’s financial exploitation, psychological harm, physical violence, or neglect, we cannot talk about ending gender-based violence without talking about protecting older adults. With 8% to 10% of Ontario seniors experiencing abuse each year, over 200,000 older adults are currently at risk.

If you’re looking to deepen your practice and better support older survivors, sign up to receive updates on new courses for 2026 Link in bio! * https://bit.ly/4vxNgD2

New course for 2026:
Risk Management and Working with Older Women Experiencing Abuse: Learn how to navigate complex safety planning, identify hidden risk factors specific to older adults, and support older women in safely reclaiming their independence.

Older survivors deserve a sector that is fully equipped to meet them exactly where they are.

Let’s ensure our advocacy covers every generation.

OntarioAdvocacy OAITHTrainingHub AutonomyForEveryone

Pride Month is a celebration, but for 2SILGBTQ+ communities, safety is still a daily protest. True intersectional femini...
06/01/2026

Pride Month is a celebration, but for 2SILGBTQ+ communities, safety is still a daily protest. True intersectional feminism recognizes that q***rphobia, transphobia, and gender-based violence are direct and equal expressions of patriarchal control over people’s bodies, identities, and autonomy.

The reality for q***r and gender-diverse folks across Canada remains incredibly stark: Hate crimes targeting a gender identity or expression are only on the rise.

We cannot end gender-based violence without fighting equally for every survivor. This June, our advocacy must be intersectional, loud, and focused on dismantling the systemic barriers that leave Q***r communities targeted and unprotected.

OAITH is proud to provide learning opportunities to support GBV organizations as they support 2SLGBTQIA people in their communities. Check out our Training Hub and receive your certificate for Moving Towards Trans Inclusive Shelter and Housing today! oaith.ca/training-hub/

Home is supposed to be a safe haven. But as the housing crisis worsens across Canada, the lack of safe, affordable housi...
05/29/2026

Home is supposed to be a safe haven. But as the housing crisis worsens across Canada, the lack of safe, affordable housing is trapping survivors in violent and unsafe conditions. 🕊️

According to OAITH’s femicide data, an overwhelming 79% of victims were killed inside or directly outside their residence. Without real, affordable housing alternatives, leaving an abuser is becoming an impossible choice for many.

This crisis is also fundamentally altering family structures. Ontario is now home to half of all residents living in multigenerational housing. While pooling resources can be a positive choice, research shows it is only successful when individuals have true autonomy.

When economic desperation forces families together, it places intense financial and caregiving burdens on older adults. These shifting power dynamics are known risk factors for elder abuse and femicide—often perpetrated within the home by family members, including adult sons.

We cannot talk about ending gender-based violence without talking about housing. Our policies must change to prioritize housing as a fundamental human right. ⚖️✊💜

🔗 Read more about how shifting housing norms impact survivor safety at the link in our bio.

SafeHousing housingrightsarehumanrights

Home is supposed to be a safe haven. But as the housing crisis worsens across Canada, the lack of safe, affordable housi...
05/25/2026

Home is supposed to be a safe haven. But as the housing crisis worsens across Canada, the lack of safe, affordable housing is trapping survivors in violent and unsafe conditions. 🕊️
According to OAITH’s femicide data, an overwhelming 79% of victims were killed inside or directly outside their residence. Without real, affordable housing alternatives, leaving an abuser is becoming an impossible choice for many.
This crisis is also fundamentally altering family structures. Ontario is now home to half of all residents living in multigenerational housing. While pooling resources can be a positive choice, research shows it is only successful when individuals have true autonomy.
When economic desperation forces families together, it places intense financial and caregiving burdens on older adults. These shifting power dynamics are known risk factors for elder abuse and femicide—often perpetrated within the home by family members, including adult sons.
We cannot talk about ending gender-based violence without talking about housing. Our policies must change to prioritize housing as a fundamental human right. ⚖️✊💜
🔗 Read more about how shifting housing norms impact survivor safety in the link in our bio.

Words have power. How the media reports on femicide shapes how our communities, survivors, and policymakers understand g...
05/19/2026

Words have power. How the media reports on femicide shapes how our communities, survivors, and policymakers understand gender-based violence. 🕊️

In partnership with , OAITH has analyzed 5 years of local, national, and television news coverage tracking media frames. The trends show a shifting landscape, but our collective work is far from finished.

📉 The Progress: We are seeing a positive decline in harmful victim-blaming language and a shift away from individualizing these crimes as “isolated, random, one-off events.” More journalists are humanizing the victims and explicitly using the term femicide.

⚠️ The Critical Gap: An over-reliance on traditional voices of authority (like law enforcement) persists, often omitting the context of systemic oppression, coercive control, or histories of abuse. Shockingly, only a tiny fraction of media reports include vital local service or help-line information for readers who might be in danger.

The headlines shouldn’t just recount a tragedy—they should be a vehicle for connection, survival, and prevention. Let’s change the frame to move our list to zero.

🔗 Read the full 5-Year Media Analysis Report at the link in our bio.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia is recognized globally as a day to raise awareness about ...
05/15/2026

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia is recognized globally as a day to raise awareness about the violence and discrimination specifically experienced by sexual minority peoples.

3 in 5 Trans women experience violence related to their gender identity because of someone else’s understanding of what their gender “should be”, or how they express or don’t express their gender.

The dominance of a structural gender binary within the gender based violence sector impacts how 2SLGBTQIA+ and gender and sexual diverse people are included, treated, and recognized within the sector.

We must challenge the structures that reinforce harmful binaries by encouraging ourselves and service providers to;
Use Inclusive Language
Create Gender Inclusive Policies and Practices
Commit to Diversity and Visibility
Commit to Ongoing Learning

Today, and everyday, OAITH stands with the 2SLGBTQIA community in support of the equality, justice and freedom missing, and desperately needed, in their lives.



Today, we join the collective call for justice on Red Dress Day, a day to honour and remember Missing and Murdered Indig...
05/05/2026

Today, we join the collective call for justice on Red Dress Day, a day to honour and remember Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S+).
A
cross our province, red dresses hang in windows and from trees as a haunting visual of the lives stolen by systemic violence. Each empty dress represents a family still fighting for accountability in a system that continues to fail Indigenous communities.

The statistics are a direct indictment of colonial structures: while Indigenous women make up less than 5% of the population, they account for nearly 1 in 4 women killed by homicide. This is not a coincidence; it is the result of deep-seated systemic racism and a lack of meaningful protection.
Every day, we see how intimate partner violence is weaponized through coercive control and systemic neglect, placing Indigenous women at an even higher risk of femicide. True prevention requires us to dismantle these inequalities at their root.

We continue to learn that ending gender-based violence requires listening to the voices that the system has long tried to silence.
Today and every day, we remember. Their lives matter. Their justice is overdue.

No More Stolen Sisters. ✊💜

Image courtesy of

As part of Sexual Violence Prevention Month this May 2026, OAITH is focusing on the deep-rooted connections between syst...
05/04/2026

As part of Sexual Violence Prevention Month this May 2026, OAITH is focusing on the deep-rooted connections between systemic issues and individual safety. Prevention is a shared responsibility, requiring leadership across all sectors to move beyond immediate crisis response toward sustainable, system-wide social change; whether that is teaching a child about boundaries, updating a workplace policy, or passing federal legislation.

Less than 6% of victims report incidents of sexual violence to police; we can’t help those we don’t know about. But we also must advocate for the systemic changes needed to ensure safe responses from institutions and people alike so that we remove barriers for accessing services and supports.

If you or someone you know is in need of help, go to mulberyfinder.ca for next steps.



Images courtesy of

We are releasing our March 2026 Femicide Factsheet with a solemn focus on a group often left out of the conversation: ol...
04/15/2026

We are releasing our March 2026 Femicide Factsheet with a solemn focus on a group often left out of the conversation: older women.

Swipe left to see the data. This month, the victim recorded was age 55+.

We need to talk about why older women remain at high risk for intimate partner violence (IPV):

Invisible Barriers: Generational stigma and long-term patterns of “private” abuse.

Economic Risk: Financial reliance on an abuser regarding pensions or fixed incomes.

Isolation: Increased health challenges that make it harder to seek safety.

Violence doesn’t have an expiration date, and neither should our advocacy. It’s time to bring older survivors out of the shadows.

every woman deserves to age in safety.

🔗 Read the full March report-link in our bio!

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