Numerous men and women across Canada face the same troubles
of escaping intimate partner violence (IPV) with a heavy reliance on
formal and informal support services. In 2022 police-reported data just
over 117,000 people aged 12 or older reported being victims of IPV
following many others that go unreported (Government of Canada,
2024). Communities acknowledge this through formal support services
such as police, courts, shelters, and counselors, however gaps remain
in reaching all victims effectively. Across Canada nearly 600 shelters
operate for IPV victims, yet only 4 percent of those serve male victims
(Blaff, 2024). Prior research has focused on studying male and female
victims separately, however few have looked at them together to
understand the differences needed in formal support services efficacy.
This research aims to seek strategies for implementing future and
adjusting current support services to mitigate revictimization of female
and male victims. Given this, the research question posed is: How does
intimate partner violence formal support services differentiate between
male and female victims in the Vancouver Area?