Abuse violates human dignity and can have devastating, life-long impacts. Abuse is mistreatment of or violence toward a person. It can take many forms, such as physical, sexual, psychological or economic abuse or neglect.
God calls us to care for the vulnerable and to uphold each person’s human dignity. Every person is created by God, in His image, and loved by Him. This compels us to respect and uphold each person’s inherent worth and to treat them as a bearer of God’s image.
As Christians, we seek to prevent abuse and restore persons hurt by it.
New: Abuse Awareness and Prevention Network founded in 2022 by the EFC and five partner ministries. Learn more at AbuseAwareness.net
Related topics: Human Trafficking, Prostitution
Abuse takes place in Christian families and churches, as well as in Canadian society at large. As Christians who recognize human weakness and sin, we must be prepared to encounter abuse, and seek to prevent abuse and restore persons hurt by it. It is important that we understand the nature of abuse, in order to prevent and address it in our own homes and communities.
According to Webster's Dictionary, to abuse is "to use so as to injure or damage." Abuse can have many forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation, emotional abuse, neglect and economic abuse. It quite often involves the misuse of power and/or authority and nearly always constitutes a violation of trust. It can occur in a single instance or episode, or be repeated over a prolonged period of time. It can occur at the hands of a parent, spouse or other family member, a caregiver or person in position of trust or authority, or by a stranger.
“Family violence” is a term that includes the many forms of abuse, maltreatment or neglect that adults and children can experience within their intimate, family or dependent relationships. Family violence includes child abuse, spousal abuse, dating violence and abuse of older adults (senior abuse).
Any form of family violence is against the law in Canada. While the Criminal Code does not contain a specific offence of family violence, an abuser can be charged with a range of applicable offences.
New Abuse Awareness and Prevention Network
Learn more about this network founded in 2022 by the EFC and five partner ministries at
AbuseAwareness.net
The #MeToo movement in recent years has helped many people see more clearly the size of this problem in workplaces and throughout broader society (see related tabs on sexual abuse directed at children or spouses).
New Abuse Awareness and Prevention Network
Learn more about this network founded in 2022 by the EFC and five partner ministries at
AbuseAwareness.net
Protecting pregnant women
A private member’s bill up for debate in the House of Commons would make the abuse and harm of a pregnant woman an aggravating factor for judges to consider in sentencing. This change would signal that harming a pregnant woman is a serious crime and may be given a longer sentence. The EFC supports Bill C-311, introduced by MP Cathay Wagantall. See our letter of support and sample MP letter at
TheEFC.ca/C311.
The EFC is conducting a survey among our affiliates to assess what gaps may exist in abuse prevention and response policies/protocols and to gauge interest in a cross-affiliate consultation on this subject.
Other resources
New Abuse Awareness and Prevention Network
Learn more about this network founded in 2022 by the EFC and five partner ministries at
AbuseAwareness.net
Issue overview
Unfortunately, young people have experienced abuse in church and Christian camp environments. It is crucial, therefore, for Christians to take all reasonable steps to protect children from abuse. Children suffer lifelong emotional and spiritual harm from abuse.
There have been numerous court cases dealing with the responsibility of those with children’s programs to have policies in place to protect children from abuse. The basic principles are that these policies must be more stringent for those who deal directly with children.
Some basic principles of these policies include:
• Police checks for all who are responsible for children
• Ensuring that children are not left alone for a significant period of time with a single care-giver.
• Ensure that there are windows in Sunday school classrooms and that there are visual checks of the classrooms.
• Ensure there are at least two caregivers where children spend overnight in care.
If there is an allegation of abuse, it must be taken seriously and investigated and addressed immediately.
Under a legal principle called “vicarious liability,” organizations are often financially responsible if a child is abused while in a program of the organization. Increasingly, insurance companies are refusing to insure organizations that deal with children if they do not have policies in place.
Spousal abuse is the violence or mistreatment that a man or a woman may experience at the hands of a spouse or common-law partner. As with child abuse, spousal abuse can take many forms. Statistics Canada defines spousal violence as “experiences of physical or sexual assault that are consistent with legal definitions of the offences and that could, if reported, be acted upon by the police. It is sexual abuse to force someone – even a spouse or common-law partner – to participate in unwanted, unsafe or degrading sexual activity.
But the abuse can also be emotional, verbal or even financial in nature. Emotional abuse includes verbal attacks, criticism, verbal threats, intimidation and social isolation. An emotional abuser may use a range of aggressive or passive-aggressive means to dominate, degrade or intimidate another person.
Financial or economic abuse occurs when an individual steals from, defrauds or exploits their spouse or common-law partner for financial gain. It also occurs when money needed to buy food or medical treatment is withheld, access to financial resources is denied or a spouse or partner is prevented from working.
Experiencing abuse can have an effect on a person’s physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being. It can affect a person’s ability to work and have meaningful relationships. A victim of abuse may turn to drug or alcohol use or other harmful behaviours as a means of coping.
Both male and female victims of spousal violence commonly report feeling upset, confused and frustrated. Women show more fear than men when they have experienced violence, are four times more likely to indicate a decrease in their sense of self-worth. They may also experience difficulty sleeping, depression and anxiety.
Violence in the home can also have lasting and significant effects on the children – even when they themselves are not the victims of the abuse. Children who grow up in an abusive environment can suffer serious emotional, developmental, behavioural and academic difficulties.
What's new
A private member’s bill up for debate in the House of Commons in spring 2023 would make the abuse and harm of a pregnant woman an aggravating factor for judges to consider in sentencing. This change would signal that harming a pregnant woman is a serious crime and may be given a longer sentence. The EFC supports Bill C-311, introduced by MP Cathay Wagantall. See our letter of support and sample MP letter at
TheEFC.ca/C311.
New Abuse Awareness and Prevention Network
Learn more about this network founded in 2022 by the EFC and five partner ministries at
AbuseAwareness.net
Abuse and neglect of older adults, typically people between the ages of 60 and 80, is the “mistreatment of older people by those in a position of trust, power or responsibility for their care,”. Seniors are vulnerable in society, and as a result, they are susceptible to abuse. Abuse of older adults refers to violence, mistreatment or neglect that seniors living in private residences or institutions may suffer at the hands of their spouses, children, other family members, caregivers, service providers or other individuals in situations of power or trust.
The nature of abuse suffered depends to some extent on the living situation of the older adult. An older adult living in a private residence is more likely to suffer abuse at the hands of family members, while an individual living in a long-term care facility may suffer abuse related to the often-intimate processes in which staff and residents are involved including feeding, bathing, dressing, moving and providing medication and other treatments.
There have been alarming public reports of abuse taking place in institutions, such as nursing homes. It can consist of the unnecessary use of force or use of restraints, administering treatment roughly, sexual harassment or molestation, verbal and/or financial abuse.
Older adults in care facilities can be vulnerable in cases where there is a lack of proper supervision of caregivers who may inadequately trained and have too many people to look after. There may not be policies or guidelines to measure employees’ actions against residents.
Often there is no voluntary report of abuse. The individuals may have a disease such as Alzheimer’s, which makes it very difficult for them to remember what recently happened to them, and they may not feel comfortable with telling anyone else on the staff. Experiencing abuse can exacerbate existing health problems, reduce their sense of independence and cause them to feel isolated and marginalized.
Canada has a fast growing older population. Because such a large portion of Canada’s population can be increasingly classified as older adults, community services and community-based responses to abuse and neglect of this age group will become more and more important.
New Abuse Awareness and Prevention Network
Learn more about this network founded in 2022 by the EFC and five partner ministries at
AbuseAwareness.net