Ever present in our lives, technology has become a tool to facilitate tasks both personal and professional. Yet the impact technology has on women is often overlooked and not very well understood. Noticing this lack of information and implement effective solutions, Women’s Shelters Canada, an inclusive organization with networks of women’s shelters across Canada, launched Tech Safety Canada (TSC).
TSC is a website dedicated to tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). TFGBV occurs when a person uses technology to control, threaten, or harm other people. While anyone can be affected by TFGBV, women, children, gender diverse people, and people with disabilities tend to be impacted at a higher rate. These populations can experience a range of violence, going from harassing texts to being tracked through geolocating applications.
Helpful resources
According to Women’s Shelters Canada’s 2022 study Insights Into Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence, the organization found that 95% of the shelters surveyed encountered survivors who had experienced some form of TFGBV in their lifetime.
The website has several resources for not only survivors, but also for people who support them, such as social workers, friends, and family members. These electronic resources offer an abundance of information to help stakeholders understand, prevent, and treat people who are experiencing or have experienced TFGBV.
Toolkits for every situation
Since tech-facilitated gender-based violence is complex and comes in numerous forms, the website has made toolkits to address several situations:
- Technology Safety and Privacy Toolkit: with an informative approach, this kit compiles tips and strategies for the safe use of information and communication technologies. It also demystifies certain concepts, such as “stalkerware” (technological tools that enable or facilitate surveillance and harassment), and raises awareness of the potential dangers of the geolocation features of devices and applications.
- Preserving Digital Evidence Toolkit: designed for preventive purposes, this kit explains the various techniques that survivors of TFGBV can use to preserve evidence and information. Media such as video recordings, photographs, text messages, and screenshots can be used as evidence by survivors in legal proceedings.
- Digital Financial Abuse Toolkit: this toolkit highlights the ways that partners or ex-partners can exploit financial services and banking applications to monitor and control survivors. It also explains the security measures that survivors can take to protect themselves from such abuse.
- Tech Safety Planning Toolkit: with the aim of raising awareness, this toolkit sheds light on the various signs that may indicate a situation of TFGBV. It also contains guides to help limit the loss of control caused by situations of harassment, threats, surveillance, or abuse inflicted by the aggressor.
- Legal Remedies for Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Toolkit: this kit outlines the various legal remedies and options available when faced with TFGBV. It also details the legal framework for violence and indicates which acts constitute criminal offences.
- Teen Digital Dating Violence Toolkit: designed for teenagers, this toolkit helps identify forms of cyberviolence in romantic relationships and dating. It also addresses various issues, such as unhealthy relationships, control, harassment by an ex-partner, and suicide threats.
- Organizational Use of Technology Best Practices and Policy Toolkit: designed for shelters and non-profit organizations, this toolkit helps create or adapt digital services to better support survivors of TFGBV.
- Navigating Tech Abuse: Conversation Guides for Rural, Remote, Northern and Indigenous Shelter Workers: designed to meet the specific needs of rural and Indigenous communities, this toolkit aims to facilitate psychosocial interventions on issues of TFGBV that arise in remote areas and communities.
Interactive tools to regain control
Among the list of resources, Technology Security Canada offers two interactive tools:
- Digital Breakup: presented as an interactive tablet, this tool highlights the various platforms, subscriptions, and devices that a partner or ex-partner can exploit for malicious purposes before or after a breakup. By clicking on the icons, users can access the types of sensitive data collected (location, SIN, etc.) as well as the steps to follow to secure or close their accounts.
- Home Tech: smart home devices such as thermostats, locks, and security systems can be misused by abusers to control or harm their partner or ex-partner. This toolkit helps identify and secure these devices to prevent intrusion or abuse.
Training for Improved Services and Support
To help professionals in the field better respond to the specific needs of survivors, the platform offers training courses (some are free while others have a fee). Complementary to the toolkits, these courses provide in-depth knowledge necessary to support survivors of TFGBV.
Finally, a section dedicated to securing everyday devices and communications provides step-by-step instructions on how to secure phones, computers, online accounts, email accounts, and various social media accounts.
