According to a recent article in The Vancouver Sun , most women who are abused do not report to the police.  Citing the Statistics Canada report “Shelters for Abused Women, 2010”, the article highlighted that 60% of women who accessed shelters across Canada in 2010 chose not to contact police.  This means that more than half of violent incidents against women are never reported. 

Also mentioned was the fact that admission to women’s shelters is increasing.  In the same report, Statistics Canada noted that between 2009 and 2010 about 64,500 women were admitted to shelters across Canada, up 2% from 2008.  At Nellie’s, the number of women who sought refuge at our shelter in 2010 was up more than 30% from the previous year (2009).   

The report also found that on average, over 400 women across the country are turned away every day from shelters due to lack of space. 

A global shelter survey shows that in one day, 2,883 shelters from 24 countries helped 90,602 women and 63,315 children. On this same survey date, these shelters had to turn away 12,228 women and 8,176 children.