This November, during Woman Abuse Prevention Month, and OAITH’s annual Wrapped in Courage campaign, Armagh is calling to expand how we address gender-based violence — moving beyond awareness and response to focus on prevention, early intervention and lasting social change.
While previous years have rightly emphasized breaking the silence, challenging misconceptions and raising awareness about the devastating impact of violence against women, Armagh believes that creating a world free from gender-based violence requires us to go further. It means addressing the attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and systemic inequalities that allow violence to take root in the first place.
At the heart of this commitment is Armagh's Chrysalis Project, which represents an important investment in upstream prevention. By working to address the underlying conditions that contribute to gender-based violence, Chrysalis embraces the belief that preventing violence must begin long before someone experiences abuse. It is about fostering healthier relationships, challenging harmful social norms, building awareness and understanding, and creating environments where respect, equality and safety are foundational.
Across the Region of Peel, survivors continue to face significant barriers to safety, including limited access to emergency shelter, transitional housing and long-term supports. Access to these services remains essential, but we must also ask ourselves how we can prevent violence before it happens, rather than relying primarily on systems of intervention after harm has occurred.
For Armagh, this means working on both ends of the continuum: providing support and safety for those experiencing abuse while investing in upstream initiatives that challenge the root causes of violence and help prevent future generations from experiencing it.
As gender-based and intimate partner violence continue to be recognized as an epidemic in Peel and an endemic issue across Ontario, the message this November is clear: we cannot end gender-based violence through awareness and crisis response alone. We must invest in prevention, challenge the conditions that perpetuate violence and work collectively toward meaningful, sustainable change.
“Through the Chrysalis Project, Armagh is advancing a vision of a future where gender-based violence is not simply responded to, but prevented. We cannot simply build better systems to respond to violence, but must build a society that prevents violence from happening in the first place,” says Jannies Le, Executive Director of Armagh.
Ending gender-based violence is a shared responsibility. It requires the commitment of governments, community organizations, service providers, institutions and individuals. Most importantly, it requires the courage to look upstream, act today and build a future where violence is no longer inevitable, but preventable.
How can you support Armagh House and the Chrysalis Project?
Learn more about the Chrysalis Project
Find a Wrapped in Courage event: www.wrappedincourage.ca/localevents
Purchase a scarf: Armagh
Media Inquiries, please contact:
Samiya Kebir
Director of Programs and Services, Armagh
Thanah Sriskantha
Community Development Manager, Armagh