HELP Toolkit: Identifying and Responding to Family Violence for Family Law Legal Advisers – Supplemental Material

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Tab #7: How to Incorporate Cultural Safety into Client Interactions

While people from all walks of life can experience many of the same forms of family violence, certain individuals and groups may also experience marginalization, racism and other forms of discrimination.Endnote 50 Family violence should be understood within the broader context of historical oppression and the current realities that many Indigenous peoples and marginalized and vulnerable groups in Canada face. It is important to understand that intersecting social identities (e.g., race, gender, immigration status, age, religion, Indigenous identity, physical ability, sexual orientation) and experiences (e.g., education, mental health, previous trauma) can affect how an individual experiences family violence and how they access supports and resources. For instance, if an Indigenous woman has experienced family violence, it is important to understand that her experiences may be shaped by her gender and Indigenous identity as well as by intergenerational trauma caused by historical practices in Canada, such as residential schools.

Cultural safety practices aim to counteract the harms of racism and discrimination and mitigate the potential trauma and lack of safety that people may experience as they seek help.Endnote 51 Cultural safety is inextricably linked to trauma-and violence-informed practice: both are needed to ensure clients feel respected, comfortable, and acknowledged as persons with unique life circumstances.

Cultural safety requires systems, organizations and individuals to be responsible for ensuring that the environment is safe for everyone. It asks people to be more attentive to the judgments and assumptions that may be driving their thoughts, actions and practices, and focuses on counteracting the everyday impacts of racism and discrimination on people’s lives. Cultural humility is an important part of cultural safety. This involves making a lifelong commitment to: learning, understanding and respecting different perspectives and lived experiences, self-reflection and self-critique.Endnote 52

Culturally safe care is particularly important when working with Indigenous and Black peoples in Canada, given the history and ongoing effects of racism, colonization, and slavery. It is important to understand the significant social and racial barriers individuals often face in engaging with policing and legal systems.

Many persons from other communities also face barriers navigating the legal system and accessing justice. For example, newcomers to Canada, those in rural and remote areas, 2SLGBTQ+ persons, and persons with disabilities may face unique barriers in navigating the legal system and accessing justice.

Stereotyping and negative social attitudes toward persons from diverse communities continue to shape their access to legal services, their experiences of the justice system and their outcomes.Endnote 53 In situations of family violence, it is especially important for legal advisers to be aware of and consider these barriers when supporting their clients.

Key features of a cultural safety approach for legal advisers include:

The following can help legal advisers incorporate a cultural safety approach into their practice.

1. Take an implicit bias test

Taking an implicit bias test will give you a glimpse into how we judge everyone we encounter, and how we are continually evaluating who is a productive member of society, who is most deserving of services and who has the most legitimate legal needs or concerns. These implicit biases, which operate unconsciously for the most part, are not “just” the product of our individual psychologies. They reflect the wider social interchange of ideas operating in Canada – in our schools, the justice sector, the media and in everyday conversations inside and outside our homes.

An example of an implicit bias test can be found here:

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/langchoice/canada.html

If you want to overcome your implicit biases, it is important to be aware of your own biases and slow down your decision-making to reflect on what may be causing you to act or react in a certain way.Endnote 54 To increase awareness of how implicit biases may be influencing your views of your clients, their personal circumstances, or your interactions with them, you might ask:

2. Do a cultural safety walk-throughEndnote 55

Doing a cultural safety walk-through prompts you to consider how your practice environment might affect clients and whether they are likely to feel welcome, and culturally and emotionally safe. Put yourself in your client’s shoes and imagine what it might be like for them to be in your physical and social space.

Ask yourself questions about the following, such as:

Physical space:

Social space:

3. Learn about your local community and resources

Knowing about your local community and local resources will help you implement a culturally safe approach. For example, you will be better able to anticipate how to communicate effectively, offer support in ways that align with people’s actual needs, convey a sense of understanding and recognition of people’s circumstances, and find resources that are suitable for your clients based on their individual circumstances.

Key things to understand about your community include:

For more information about cultural safety, you may wish to consult the following resources:

In addition, you might find the following resources helpful with respect to working with Indigenous persons: