Voices for Change Conference on Ending GBV Among Refugees and Newcomers

Join us for a full-day conference dedicated to ending gender-based violence (GBV) among Black and racialised immigrant and refugee women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. Learn, connect, and take action during the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

About the Conference

The Voices for Change Conference 2025 is hosted by Hope for Refugees International and takes place during the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (November 25 – December 10).

This year’s theme, From Harm to Healing: Ending GBV and Building Safer Refugee and Newcomer Communities, will guide a day of dialogue, skills-building, and collaborative action.

We will explore urgent issues—including human trafficking, economic abuse, and harmful gender norms—while sharing solutions to improve survivor support and strengthen community prevention capacity.

GBV disproportionately affects refugees, newcomers, and LGBTQI+ individuals due to intersecting systemic barriers such as racism, colonialism, homophobia/transphobia, ableism, poverty, precarious immigration status, and housing insecurity (WAGE, 2022).

Globally, humanitarian and displacement contexts amplify risks, with an estimated 1 in 5 refugee or displaced women experiencing sexual violence in complex emergencies (World Health Organization (WHO, 2024).

Locally, Toronto’s SafeTO plan and Ontario’s Action Plan to End GBV highlight the urgent need for culturally safe, trauma-informed, and prevention-focused strategies (City of Toronto, 2023; Government of Ontario, 2023).

Why Attend?

• Learn from survivors, service providers, policymakers, and advocates.
• Build skills to identify, interrupt, and prevent GBV.
• Connect with local, provincial, national, and global networks.
• Take action with clear steps you can implement in your community or organization

1. Strengthen Survivor Access to Essential SupportsEnsure refugee and newcomer survivors of GBV can access timely, trauma-informed, and culturally safe health care, legal aid, housing, income supports, and immigration services through coordinated and accessible systems.

2. Build Clear and Coordinated Referral PathwaysDevelop and promote streamlined, multilingual referral networks—anchored by a Survivor Resource Hub—that connect survivors to services without retraumatization or systemic barriers.

3. Enhance Community-Based Prevention CapacityEquip frontline workers, service providers, community leaders, and men/boys with the knowledge, tools, and skills to identify, interrupt, and prevent GBV within refugee and newcomer communities.

4. Foster Collaborative and Sustainable ChangeStrengthen partnerships across sectors—government, community organizations, and survivor networks—to integrate survivor support and prevention strategies, creating long-term, safer communities for all.

Who Should Attend?

• Refugees, immigrants, and newcomers
• Survivors of GBV and trafficking
• Social workers, healthcare providers, and settlement workers
• Legal aid and justice sector professionals
• Faith leaders, educators, and youth leaders
• Policy makers and municipal/provincial leaders
• Academics, researchers, and students

Conference Highlights

Plenary Sessions

• Opening Plenary – Ending Violence Is Possible: If We Act Together Now
• From Response to Prevention: Survivor-Centred Services & Community Capacity to End GBV

Workshops

• Breaking the Chains – Understanding and Combating Human Trafficking in Refugee and Newcomer Communities
• Beyond Dollars and Cents – Recognizing and Addressing Economic Abuse and Coercive Control
• Men as Allies – Championing Positive Masculinity in Refugee and Newcomer Communities

1. Improved survivor access to culturally appropriate services and a multilingual Survivor Resource Hub.
2. Strengthened prevention capacity to address GBV, including technology-facilitated and economic abuse.
3. Greater confidence in justice systems among racialised, immigrant, refugee, and LGBTQI+ survivors.
4. Systems change commitments from municipal and provincial partners.

Federal: The National Action Plan to End GBV operationalises Pillars 1, 2, 3, and 5, and follows principles of intersectionality, survivor-centredness, and trauma- and violence-informed practice (WAGE, 2022).Provincial: Ontario’s Action Plan to End GBV and Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy (2025–2030) focuses on prevention, survivor supports, and community-based services (Government of Ontario, 2023).Municipal: Toronto’s SafeTO promotes a public health, prevention-first approach, aligning with conference objectives (City of Toronto, 2023).

• 1 in 5 refugee/displaced women in complex emergencies experiences sexual violence (WHO, 2024).
• Sexual-minority Canadians face higher violent victimization rates; trans and gender-diverse people are especially at risk (Statistics Canada, 2022).
• Human trafficking victims in Canada are predominantly women and girls; Ontario accounts for two-thirds of reported cases (Statistics Canada, 2023).
• GBV’s economic and social costs are long-term and intergenerational (Department of Justice Canada, 2012).

Learn more about conference here: https://hopeforrefugees.org/elementor-3272/

Have questions or want to get involved?

Contact us at: Email: info@hopeforrefugees.orgTel: +1 (416) 576-9164

Info: In this high-impact session, we’ll connect the global movement to the urgent realities faced by Black and racialised immigrant and refugee women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ individuals in Canada. You’ll hear from survivor leaders, grassroots organizers, and policy changemakers who prove that GBV is preventable when we stand together. Expect bold ideas, honest stories, and a shared commitment to take action—now and beyond the 16 Days campaign. Together, we can build communities where everyone lives free from violence.

Info: Breaking the Chains: Understanding and Combating Human Trafficking in Refugee and Newcomer Communities

This alternate breakout workshop will unpack how labour trafficking and sex trafficking manifest locally, including recruitment tactics—both in-person and online—and how traffickers exploit vulnerabilities such as precarious immigration status, housing instability, and economic hardship. Participants will explore prevention strategies, safe exit planning, and rapid-response referrals for victims, as well as status-regularisation options for survivors fearful of deportation.

Info: This alternate breakout session will provide a safe, engaging space to understand, identify, and address economic abuse and coercive control. Participants will explore how these abuses manifest—such as withholding money, sabotaging employment, controlling access to housing, or manipulating immigration sponsorship—and the long-term impacts on survivors’ economic security and mental health.

The workshop will also connect participants to practical tools, financial literacy resources, and culturally safe supports available in Ontario, including community legal clinics, settlement agencies, and crisis lines. Survivors’ voices will guide the conversation, ensuring the content is grounded in lived experience.

Info: This skills-based workshop will equip men—especially newcomers—to critically reflect on harmful gender norms, unlearn violence-supportive behaviours, and embrace positive masculinity in their families and communities. Participants will engage in practical exercises, group dialogue, and real-life scenarios to develop strategies for promoting equality and respect in faith groups, home settings, shelters, classrooms, sports teams, and community gatherings.

Info: Expert Presentations & Interactive Dialogue

How can we end gender-based violence (GBV) in refugee and newcomer communities? By ensuring survivors get the right help—when they need it—and by building communities that can stop violence before it starts. This plenary will explore how to:

Improve survivor access to trauma-informed, culturally appropriate health, legal, housing, income support, and immigration services.
Create clear referral pathways and a multilingual Survivor Resource Hub.
Strengthen prevention skills among frontline workers, community leaders, and men/boys to identify, interrupt, and prevent GBV.

Hear from service providers, survivor leaders, and prevention advocates who are making this vision a reality—and leave with practical ideas to connect survivor supports with community-driven prevention efforts.

Host or Publisher Hope for Refugees International - HRI