Staying Safe
You can take several steps to help keep you and your loved ones safe. This section guides you to services and resources available to help protect you and your loved ones.
Speak With Someone
If you fear for your or your loved ones’ safety and you are in immediate danger, please call 911 immediately. If your community does not have 911 services, the local police emergency number can be found on the inside front cover of your phone book under emergency numbers
Police
If you would like police assistance and are not in immediate danger, please call your local police non-emergency number.
Ask the police about a protection order to help keep you and your loved ones safe.
The police can also provide information about a local victim service worker.
Victim Service Workers
Victim service workers are specially trained to help victims of crime. They can speak to you in confidence about your safety concerns. They will discuss your options, answer your questions and can help you develop a safety plan.
A safety plan may be helpful if you fear for your safety, expect violence, are in an abusive relationship or believe you may become a victim of crime for any other reason.
If you would like help and support from a victim service worker, please call VictimLink BC.
Violence Against Women
For safety information for relationship violence, please see the End Violence Together information sheet posted on the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia website.
For more information and to receive support and referrals for help preparing a safety plan, please call VictimLink BC at 1-800-563-0808.
If you feel staying in your home places you in danger or leaving your home will help you escape or prevent an attack, go to an emergency shelter. You and your children can stay at an emergency shelter for free while you decide what to do next.
You can go yourself or you can ask police to take you to a safe house, transition house or to another place where you will feel safe (such as a friend’s or relative’s house). For more information, please visit: Shelters and Housing.
Peace Bonds and Restraining Orders
Peace bonds and restraining orders are both protection orders — orders made by a judge in court (criminal court for peace bonds, civil court for restraining orders) to help protect one person from another.
A restraining order is an order from a judge that the person have no contact with you and sometimes your family members, too. It may also impose other restrictions on the person. For example, they may be ordered not to go to certain places or not to use alcohol in certain circumstances. Any conditions the person has to follow will be spelled out in the restraining order.
For a restraining order, you must have a family connection— you are (or were) married or living together or you have children together.
If the person does not obey a restraining order, they could be fined up to $5,000 or given a custodial sentence of up to two years.
A peace bond is a court order used to keep a person from committing (or recommitting) a crime. It requires the person to agree to specific conditions to keep the peace. Conditions a judge can impose include:
- staying away from particular people or places;
- not carrying weapons;
- not using drugs or alcohol;
- obeying curfews (a specific time of the day after which certain rules apply); and
- reporting regularly to police or a probation officer.
The court can order a peace bond even if a person has not been charged or convicted of a crime.
If the person does not obey the conditions of a peace bond, they could be given a criminal record and may be placed on probation for up to three years, fined up to $5,000 and/or sentenced to jail for up to two years. A peace bond is not a criminal charge but criminal charges may be laid if the conditions are not followed.
For more information on getting peace bonds and restraining orders, please see For Your Protection: Peace Bonds and Restraining Orders by the Victim Services and Crime Prevention Division of the Ministry of Public Safety and the Legal Services Society.
Victim Notification – Victim Safety Unit
If you are a victim of crime, you can ask to receive information about the accused or offender. To learn more about this service, please visit: Victim Notification.
