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Letter to the Minister

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Name and Number

Professor’s Name

Assignment Due Date

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Letter to the Minister

Todd Smith,

Minister of

Address

March 22, 2021

Dear Honorable Minister, Todd Smith,

Following the recent rise in gender-based violence, I am reaching you on behalf of the

White Ribbon Campaign organization (White Ribbon, n.d.). Lately, violence against women has

escalated in the community, specifically from the new refugees and immigrants. Through our

organization's research, we were able to pinpoint important statistics regarding violence in

society (Scheer et al., 2020).

The most commonly recognized kinds of violence in Canada right now are spousal and

intimate partner violence. In 2011, statistics showed that eight out of ten victims of spousal

violence reported to the police were women. Compared to men, women are four times likely to

be the victims of any violence. Spousal/intimate partner violence against women costs are very

high; in Canada, they are likely to be $5 billion per annum (Sinha, 2013).

Averagely, a woman dies at the hands of her partner or spouse in Canada every six days.

Similarly, because of the pandemic, violence cases have increased. The social isolation strict

measures that have been put have placed abusers closer to the victims. Therefore, no one notices

any violent signs to intervene (Howard et al., 2019).

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Sasseville et al. (2020) argue that women are at risk of physical, emotional, and

psychological violence. However, I am more concerned with the new immigrants and refugee

women trying hard to live by the government’s requirements and meeting daily family needs.

According to Sabri et al. (2020), more refugee women are being infiltrated into this country as

sex workers/slaves over the last month. This is a problem that exposes them to even more

danger, such as emotional stress and HIV/AIDS. Also, cases of young girls sold for sex slavery

have been reported. The government must regulate this immediately by implementing regulatory

measures.

I request that you take decisive action and help these women because you have the power,

capacity, and privilege of making a significant difference. Most importantly, educate yourself as

well as others about gender-based violence.

I hope that you will consider this a priority issue and support us. I will appreciate your

consideration.

Sincerely,

White Ribbon Campaign.

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References

Howard, J., Senior, P., Senior, P., Kauffman, W., Kauffman, W., & Hawkins, K. (2019,

December 11). Canadian Women's Foundation. https://canadianwomen.org/

Sinha, M. (2013). Measuring violence against women: Statistical trends. Juristat: Canadian

Centre for Justice Statistics, 1. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/85-002-

x/2013001/article/11766-eng.pdf?st=5wLLbYCy

Sabri, B., Hartley, M., Saha, J., Murray, S., Glass, N., & Campbell, J. C. (2020). Effect of

COVID-19 pandemic on women’s health and safety: A study of immigrant survivors of

intimate partner violence. Health Care for Women International, 1-

19. https://doi/full/10.1080/07399332.2020.1833012

Sasseville, N., Maurice, P., Montminy, L., Hassan, G., & St-Pierre, É. (2020). Cumulative

contexts of vulnerability to intimate partner violence among women with disabilities,

older women, and immigrant women: Prevalence, risk factors, explanatory theories, and

prevention. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 152483802092577.

https://doi/10.1177/1524838020925773

Scheer, J. R., Pachankis, J. E., & Bränström, R. (2020). Gender-based structural stigma and

intimate partner violence across 28 countries: A population-based study of women

across sexual orientation, immigration status, and socioeconomic status. Journal of

Interpersonal Violence, 088626052097621. https:///doi/10.1177/0886260520976212

 White Ribbon. (n.d.). Retrieved 22 March 2021, from https://www.whiteribbon.ca/