Le Bouclier d’Athéna Services familiaux est un organisme communautaire sans but lucratif dont le but est de venir en aide aux victimes de violence conjugale et familiale, particulièrement les femmes et les enfants provenant des communautés ethnoculturelles et les anglophones.

Nos bureaux sont situés à Laval et à Montréal. Nos services multilingues se divisent en trois volets et  sont culturellement et linguistiquement adaptés aux besoins des communautés.

  • Services d’intervention spécialisés multilingues offerts à nos bureaux;
  • Service d’hébergement multilingues (La Maison d’Athéna) lequel procure un environnement sécuritaire et réhabilitant aux femmes et enfants victimes de violence familiale;
  • Programme de sensibilisation communautaire multilingue informant les communautés en langue maternelle sur les problématiques de la violence familiale.

 

History of the Organization

The Birth of the Shield of Athena
The Shield of Athena was founded in 1991 to provide the Greek community, and particularly women, with information on family and conjugal violence. From 1992 to 1994, the Shield launched a pilot public awareness campaign aimed at the community and victims, in their language of origin. This successful approach demonstrated its potential for other communities.

The Shield's Services
The Shield also began to offer free, professional, specialized services of intervention, support, referral, prevention and accompaniment to women and children victims of family violence, particularly those coming from the ethnic and Anglophone communities. It now provides these services in 12 languages in two offices in Montreal and Laval as well as through its shelter.

Violence Hurts Us All Public Service Announcement (PSA)
In 1997, in partnership with the federal government through its National Strategy against Family Violence and the Montreal-area ethnic media, the Shield initiated its Ethnic Media Community Outreach Programme. The Shield co-produced television and radio shows, contributed articles in the ethnic media on the issue and, in 2002, co-produced an award winning public service announcement (PSA), “Violence hurts us all,” with Rogers CFMT, Canada’s largest multilingual television station. The PSA was broadcast in 14 languages (Arabic, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Farsi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Urdu, Tamil, English and French) and distributed to 30 ethnic broadcasters and specialty channels across Canada.

violence hurts us us all Shield of athena

Family Violence in Ethnic Communities
Between 1997 and 2002, the Shield produced its first series of audio-visual tools in 15 languages on various aspects of family violence that responded to specific requests from ethnic communities. The Shield of Athena continues to offer culturally sensitive public awareness sessions on family violence to many communities in their language of origin as well as to social insertion and other community groups always using the audio-visual tools it has developed. We help communities analyze their needs and transform cultural barriers to addressing violence into a positive approach that speaks to culturally and linguistically appropriate messaging and interventions.

Information on Police Procedure
In 2003, the Shield launched a second series of audio-visual tools in collaboration with the Montreal Police Service (SPVM) that outlines police procedure and existing resources available to women victims of conjugal violence, which is offered in 14 languages. The Shield signed a formal agreement with the SPVM to promote the use of these information tools by the SPVM in its dealings with ethnic communities.

Athena's House: A Safe Place to Stay
In 2004, the Shield of Athena opened an emergency shelter: Athena’s House, where women and their children victims of conjugal and family violence can stay from one day to two months. The shelter provides free, culturally adapted intervention services in many languages as well as all necessities in a comforting and empowering environment.

Multilingual Sexual Assault PSA
In November 2007, the Shield of Athena and CJNT Montreal launched a second PSA, on sexual assault, in 15 languages. Since 2007, the Shield has begun offering new services such as a Multilingual Sexual Assault Referral and Help Line offering a recording message in 12 languages to women and children victims of sexual assault and abuse, a drop-in day care where clients can leave their children for short periods of time.

The Shield is continuing its outreach strategy so as to increase public awareness on the problem of family and conjugal violence within different ethnic communities.