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Gahcho Kué Mine and the NWT Status of Women Council are proud to partner and offer new safety planning resources for women facing intimate partner violence in the Northwest Territories.

The project includes a one-time grant of $65,000 from De Beers Group and Mountain Province Diamonds, $25,000 from NWT Victims Assistance Committee, and in-kind contributions from the Status of Women Council. Once developed, the safety planning resources will enable women to put together individualized safety plans in a discreet and safe manner, using a new Safety Planning App, website or print options. This project will fulfil one of the recommendations from We Hear You, a 2020 report published by the NWT Status of Women Council based upon interviews with women who have experienced intimate partner violence.

Lyndon Clark, General Manager of Gahcho Kué Mine: “Everyone must be able to live with dignity and it is very important to enable individuals who face domestic violence to safely exit from these situations. We have a zero-tolerance approach to domestic violence, whether it takes place in the workplace or in the home, and we’re proud to support development of critical resources to assist people in need throughout the Northwest Territories.”

Louise Elder, Executive Director of the NWT Status of Women Council: “The NWT Status of Women Council is committed to ending violence against women. Everyone deserves to feel and be safe in their homes, their workplaces, and their communities. These safety planning resources will meet the need for discreet, timely, and accurate information to help women and their children stay safe – a need identified to us by NWT women with lived experience with intimate partner violence. We are grateful to De Beers Group, Mountain Province Diamonds, and the NWT Victims Assistance Committee for providing funding for the development of these much-needed safety planning resources.”

De Beers Group (51%) is operator of Gahcho Kué Mine in the Northwest Territories, with joint venture partner Mountain Province Diamonds (49%). The contribution to the Status of Women Council is being made to meet one of the goals in the Gahcho Kué Mine Building Forever plan to deliver lasting, positive contributions to the company’s host communities and also aligns with De Beers Group’s internal zero tolerance policy toward gender based violence.

The NWT Status of Women Council was established in 1990 to advance gender equality in the Northwest Territories through public awareness initiatives, community engagement and development activities, and advocating for change. Its ground breaking We Hear You report released in 2020 included 21 recommendations on how to improve services available to women experiencing intimate partner violence.

Building Forever 2030

Launched in November 2020, Building Forever is De Beers Group’s blueprint for creating a positive and sustainable impact that will endure beyond the discovery of our last diamond. Building Forever includes 12 ambitious goals underneath four pillars – Leading Ethical Practices Across Industry, Partnering for Thriving Communities, Protecting the Natural World, and Accelerating Equal Opportunity. For more information see BUILDING FOREVER.

Gahcho Kué Mine has its own Building Forever plan, which includes a number of goals focused in the NWT, including literacy development, gender-based violence, training programs and new scholarships, being carbon neutral by 2030, caribou conservation, protection of water quality downstream from the mine, enterprise development and other initiatives.

Zero Tolerance Policy

In March 2021, De Beers Group launched its Global Domestic Violence Policy that applies to all employees of the company around the world. It sets a zero tolerance policy toward domestic violence. The company will provide confidential support and advice to employees experiencing or escaping domestic violence, including changes in work location, safe emergency accommodation, paid leave for appointments or to move to a safe place, and financial assistance as a one-time payment. Employees who are perpetrators of domestic violence may be held accountable for their behavior at the workplace through possible disciplinary action or referral to counselling or other resources.

We Hear You

This research project by the NWT Status of Women Council was to amplify the voices of women in the NWT who had experience intimate partner violence in the development and identify delivery of services required to reduce or eliminate barriers they face in accessing the services that are available to them. Out of the report came 21 recommendations, including one to improve the “accuracy, timeliness, as well as the safe and discrete accessibility of safety planning information.” The collaborative project funded by De Beers Group, NWT Victims Assistance Committee and the NWT Status of Women Council will create safety planning resources available in a number of ways:

• A Safe Planning App that can be installed on a smart phone
• A binder of information to be distributed to front line services providers in every community in the NWT
• Safety planning resources available from the Status of Women website

For more information CLICK HERE.