Citation

Koshan J, Wiegers W. Can. J. Women Law 2007; 19: 145.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, University of Toronto Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article analyzes and compares civil domestic violence legislation in Saskatchewan and Alberta, focusing on the emergency relief available to victims of woman abuse under the legislation. The authors situate the emergence of this legislative response within the context of economic and political restructuring in Canada over the 1980s and 1990s and identify distinctions between neo-liberal and neo-conservative approaches to domestic violence policy in Saskatchewan and Alberta respectively. Civil legislation is also situated within the context of state reforms undertaken in relation to violence against women more broadly and within the context of feminist advocacy for, and critiques of, the state response to woman abuse. Through an examination of familialization, privatization, and criminalization, the authors identify the benefits and limits of this approach to violence against women and note the nuances, contradictions, and tensions within and between neo-liberal and neo-conservative ideological positions. Since they recognize that civil domestic violence legislation is useful to some women, the authors do not advocate its repeal but do explore reforms that could make it more attentive to the needs of women experiencing violence.