Council for the Status of Men - Canada Conseil pour la Condition Masculine - Canada Dorval, Québec, Canada / Tel: 514-591-5553 Email: canada_council_status_of_men@hotmail.com Sheherazade Hirji,
Executive Director
Royal LePage Shelter Foundation Canada June 11, 2002 COMPLAINT Dear Ms. Hirji, We are greatly offended by the misinformation posted on your web site regarding domestic violence and the need for Royal LePage to provide shelters exclusively for women. http://www.royallepage.ca/shelter/faq.htm Royal LePage, being a responsible and respected company should validate its information BEFORE publication and not be involved in the spreading of Urban Legends and gender stereotyping of men. Nothing on your web site regarding domestic violence is close to factual and we challenge you to produce one supporting document from any legitimate reporting source to back up your ‘statistics’. We suggest you go to Statistics Canada http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/85-224-XIE/0100085-224-XIE.pdf and do your homework! We are copying this letter to the President of your company and the media and ask your web site ‘Shelter’ section be closed and condemned for being nothing more than an anti-men propaganda site. The questions and answers about domestic violence on the Royal LePage website are incorrect and reckless gender stereotyping at best. To repeatedly suggest only women and children are victims of domestic violence is encouraging the very gender stereotyping legitimate women and men groups are trying to rid Canadian society of. Examples from your website: Lie #1 “What about men and boys who are abused? We don't condone violence against anyone. Some men are abused, but overwhelmingly it is women who are abused.”
The truth is far from your ridiculous claim, Ms. Hirji. [The following quote is from an archived version of the source document the quote was taken from. —F4L] 
Men and family violence
Studies show that men and boys are just as likely to be the abused as to be abusers in cases of family violence. Another problem is that there is a lack of resources, such as shelters and counseling, available for abused men and many front-line workers, such as police and social workers, have not been trained to handle these cases.
A 1996 Health Canada report found that it is as difficult for men and boys as for women and girls to admit that they are abused and more difficult to find help.
Lie #2 “Aggressive behavior is natural for boys, isn't it? Boys are taught that it is okay for them to be aggressive and use force to get what they want.”
Are you suggesting that Canadian mothers and fathers are raising their sons to be batterers and their daughters to be victims? This gender profiling and generalization is the lowest form of sex discrimination. Lie #3 “Isn't this just a women's issue? Actually, we all have a role to play in stopping violence against women. It's especially important for men who don't abuse to tell men who do that their behavior is unacceptable.”
All reputable sociological studies have shown that violence between spouses is initiated at a 50/50 rate. There are about 40 women per year killed by their spouse in Canada, 40 too many. There are 20 men kill by their wives, 20 too many. Lie #4 “Isn't it the responsibility of government to support shelters for assaulted women? Yes, but it is not only their responsibility. We need shelters because assaulted women and their children need a safe place to go, and support to take back control of their lives. If we are going to stop violence against women, we all have to get involved.”
And where do abused men and their children go to take back control of their lives? A hotel? There are 700 women who kill themselves annually - why don't we care as much about these women as the 40 who are murdered? And there are 2800 men who kill themselves annually. No one seems to care about them.... 3500 bodies compared to 60? Lie #5 “Is violence against women is a big problem in Canada? Unfortunately, the incidence of violence against women and girls is very high. According to Statistics Canada, 51% of women in Canada have experienced violence as defined by the Criminal Code.”
From which Stats Canada web site did you get this statistic? Please go to their site and get us the link supporting your claim: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/ With men being victims of violent crimes at a rate 4 times that of women would the men’s statistic be: 204% of Canadian men have experienced violence as defined by the criminal code? “Violence Prevention Grants:
The purpose of the violence prevention grants is:
The above grant program, by excluding men is the most offensive of gender stereotyping. Men are the victims in 4 out of 5 acts of violence! If Royal LePage’s aim is to provide shelters benefiting the Canadian community as a whole, it should concern itself with providing shelters also for battered men and their children. The current association of the Royal LePage name with gender stereotyping does a disservice to all its good intentions. We look forward to a correction of the website and discussing Royal LePage being the first to fund shelters for battered men in Canada. Respectfully, William Levy Ethics Committee CC:
Simon Dean,
President & CEO
Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd. Media / Interested Parties ________________
Further Reading: Family Violence — Index Social critic Eeva Sodhi writes to the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation  The White Rose
Thoughts are Free
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