Rise is a community legal clinic and registered charity based in Vancouver but serving clients across BC. Since June 2016, Rise has provided unbundled legal services to self-identified women and gender-diverse individuals, primarily in the area of family law.

Rise assists over 2,000 women and gender diverse people a year, 80% of whom have experienced family violence. We are experts in the crossover between family violence and family law, and we also provide training for lawyers, advocates, and support workers, and conduct original research and publish guides and recommendations for systemic change within family law to better assist survivors.

Rise has programs that focus both on Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, and outside the Lower Mainland, primarily rural and remote areas which have even more barriers to access services. Our clients are economically disadvantaged, and many are further marginalised by race, geography, disability, and other factors.

The rates of family violence in Canada are high. Women and Gender Equality Canada reports, for example, that 44% of women in Canada report experiencing some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime (since the age of 15). The effects of family violence on children is also well documented, and children are at an increased risk of experiencing family violence during and post parental separation and divorce. Rise is filling an important gap in services for women and gender diverse people, and providing critical support for those experiencing family violence.