Violence against women remains a critical issue in Canada.Violence affects not only a woman's physical and emotional wellbeing but also her children, her career and her life. With your support, we invested over $1million this year in programs that help women and children rebuild their lives after experiencing violence, and programs that prevent violence against women, by working with girls and teens to educate them before the violence starts. In the last year, you helped us fund programs that provide emergency shelter and basic needs; emergency loan programs to help women get re-established in the community after leaving an abusive relationship; programs that focus on healing and re-building self-esteem for women and for their children that have witnessed abuse; and programs that work to provide safe, affordable and independent housing away from the abuser. We have also focused our investments on programs that educate girls and teens about healthy relationships
