By Cecilia Nasmith
Saturday's pop-up yoga events in Cobourg and Whitby were in support of a future free from violence against women through the Kimberley Project.
This registered Canadian charity was founded by Catherine Dunphy in honour of her sister-in-law Kimberley Black, who experienced violence. It brought home to her that women in Canada still experience sexual assault and violence and misogyny. And in each case, the trauma affects (among other things) her productivity. It's not just the personal problem many consider it, she said – it's a societal problem that has costs.
The Kimberley Project recently shared its findings as to what kind of costs.
Domestic violence – Each year Canada spends about $7.4-billion responding to the aftermath of domestic violence.
Sexual assault – Each year, some 600,000 sexual assaults occur in Canada, of which only about six in 100 are reported to police. Even given this low proportion of reported incidents, the estimated cost for these crimes is $4.8-billion per year. And despite the high cost, Dunphy terms the conviction rate for perpetrators abysmal.
She considers this kind of violence to be 100% preventable, if more focus could fall on the perpetrators and the influences that surrounded and shaped them at an earlier age. The Kimberley Project is partnering with organizations as far away as the United Kingdom in developing proactive early-intervention curricula and programming of a kind that has been shown to return $11 for every $1 invested. The potential to affect our national Gross Domestic Product is estimated at up to $150-billion.
Dunphy salutes what she termed the “strong warrior women” who overcome these tragedies and remembers those who have not been able to with initiatives aimed at building resilience and developing critical thinking.
