Protecting Your Personal Spaces : Practical Strategies for Ensuring Post-Separation Safety

Protecting Your Home

Whether choosing to stay in a home previously shared with the abusive partner or moving to a new living space, various strategies can help increase the safety of a residence in the context of domestic violence by:

• Installing a security system.
• Setting up surveillance cameras that can be monitored live on your cell phone.
• Changing the locks.
• Installing bars or additional locks on windows.
• Creating a fire escape plan.
• Asking trusted individuals to park in front of the house.
• Informing neighbors of the identity and vehicle of the abusive ex-partner, and let them know what to do if the partner is spotted.
• Requesting that your new address not be disclosed in court documents, school records, etc.
• Opening a P.O. Box and use that address for all correspondence related to your accounts.
• Considering breaking your lease due to the intimate partner violence and moving to a safer place.

Depending on your situation, you may be eligible for compensation for expenses related to securing your home through the IVAC services.

Safety ay Work

Workplaces now have an explicit obligation from the CSST to assist in protecting their employees when they face situations of domestic violence. The CSST recommends that an individual safety plan be created by the employer by:

• Developing a procedure to confirm the victim's safety in case they fail to show up at the office at the agreed-upon time or in case of absence.
• Changing the victim's telephone extension number and email.
• Moving the victim’s workstation or changing their work location.
• Allowing flexible working hours or variable schedules.
• Programming 911 on the victim’s work phone.
• Creating a plan to monitor comings and goings within the company.
• Establishing a procedure for escorting the victim from their car to the workplace.
• Providing the victim with a panic button linked to security personnel.
• Allowing the victim to return to the office if they were working remotely.
• Allowing temporary remote work if commuting to the workplace is unsafe.
• Committing to enforcing any court orders.
• Involving certain colleagues in monitoring the premises.
  Allowing the employee to take temporary leave from work for safety reasons.

(Partial Source : Commission de la santé et sécurité au travail - CSST)

Safety in School or Daycare

Children spend several hours a day at school or daycare. Different strategies can improve their safety while they are there by:

• Informing the institution of any changes in the child's custody and any no-contact orders between the parent and the child.
• Allowing the child to arrive after classes have started and leave slightly before the end of school to prevent the violent parent from using these moments to access them or the victim.
• If the child takes the school bus, escorting them to it after classes.
• Providing the teacher or caregiver with a panic button connected to security or 911.
• Circulating a photo of the violent parent and their vehicle among the institution's staff and inform them of the procedure to follow if the abuser is seen.
• Developing security strategies so that only authorized persons can pick up the child. If needed, modify previously authorized persons.
• Keeping the child inside the institution during recess, lunch, and after school.
• Establishing a procedure to confirm that the victim and child are safe in case the child does not show up at the institution.
• Removing the victim's home address from the child's records.
• Allowing the child to take time off or attend classes remotely.
• In certain circumstances, considering changing the child's school or daycare for safety reasons.