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From the Executive Director

Penny Bain, LLM

I am pleased to provide this report about the activities of the Institute since the issue of our Spring newsletter. We are happy to welcome our new Resource Centre Co-ordinator, Jenny Fry, who replaces Rosie Croft. Rosie did an outstanding job for us in building our collection and developing the Institute's internet website.

In the area of research, the Institute received renewal of grants from the Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission to profile risk factors from the case files of stalking offenders, develop assaultive men's typologies for designing appropriate men's treatment and management strategies, research improvements to sex offender risk assessment, and develop a screening version of the SARA spousal assault risk assessment tool. Dr. Randy Kropp is also preparing a summary of three years' research evaluating assaultive men's treatment programs. In addition, Corrections Canada contracted with Dr. Kropp to conduct further research in relation to the SARA, which will examine risk for stalking and spousal homicide in a group of federal offenders and follows spousal assaulters into the community. And Dr. Kropp is working with Corrections Canada to develop Web-based training materials to instruct users in the administration of the SARA. For the Corrections Branch (Ministry of Attorney General), the Institute continues to develop a core, standardized treatment readiness program for BC penal institutions and community programs and a specialized curriculum for community treatment programs for assaultive men. The Institute has also contracted with Katrina Pacey to develop a small research project related to police experience with the AG's Violence Against Women in Relationships pro-arrest policy and with Mary Cooper to develop an analysis of family violence issues arising in Children's Commissioner fatality reports.

In the area of education, on behalf of West Coast LEAF, we have been awarded Law Foundation funding to conduct workshops across the province for women's advocates on the topic of family violence and custody and access proceedings. With funding from BC Multiculturalism, the Institute is also developing an information booklet and workshops for advocates who work with abused non-landed immigrant women. On March 1, 2000, the Institute began work on the Canadian Health Network contract, in partnership with the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence and Education Wife Abuse. Our role in this national public education opportunity will be to provide health-related information on violence on the Internet (http://www.canadian-health-network.ca/).With grants totalling $100,000 from the National Crime Prevention Council for The Person Within Project, Project Director Dr. Sally Rogow is providing province-wide information and training workshops for caregivers on the prevention of abuse of children and young people with disabilities. We are pleased to report that one of the other of this project's emissaries-The Person Within video-has just been awarded a bronze medal in an international creative media competition (for more on this achievement, please see page 17). In other communications news, we have recently installed several new information resources on our website and have issued several press releases which have resulted in participation in radio and television interviews (you may view the press releases online at http://www.bcifv.org).

In the area of law reform, the Institute is developing a brief on the need to include family violence as a factor in determining custody and access, which you will find featured in this issue of the newsletter. We have also worked in partnership with five organizations to develop a brief on child protection and issues relating to violence against women and children. Finally, we've also participated in federal consultations on children as victims and witnesses of family violence.