Community Engaged Learning Report on Financial Abuse Generates Awareness and Impacts

A new report produced through a Community Engaged Teaching and Learning partnership is drawing attention to an often-overlooked form of intimate partner violence: financial abuse. The report, titled “Hidden in the Everyday,” is the result of collaboration between CESI, the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto, and psychology students Sonia Zawitkowski, Emma Currie, and Brianna Wilson under the supervision of Dr. Paula Barata at the University of Guelph. It explores financial abuse and its impact on survivors through qualitative and quantitative interviews and surveys. As a Community Engaged Teaching and Learning project, the partnership involved students working with community partners around shared research interests to meet community-identified needs.

The report has already contributed to increased awareness about financial abuse as a form of intimate partner violence.  News outlets across Canada have published online editorials on the report, including The Globe and Mail, The Province, The Vancouver Sun, The Regina Leader Post, The London Free Press, and the Saskatoon Star Pheonix, while The Edmonton Journal and Moncton Times & Transcript have published print editorials.  The report has also led to the review of policies related to financial abuse: Credit Canada has announced that it will change how it assesses credit for women who have been the victim of this type of partner violence.  These policy changes will make an immediate difference in the lives of women impacted by financial abuse as a result of the report.

For more information, download the full report or contact Melissa Tanti, Community Engaged Learning Coordinator.