U of Sask. symposium explores violence on the Prairies

The mix of theory and lived experience featured at a University of Saskatchewan conference on violence is key to improving public safety, organizers say.

The Biennial Symposium on Violence and Aggression brings together academics and front-line workers to share research and stories.

The theme for this year's conference, a two-day event at the U of S campus that wrapped up Tuesday, was "current trends in violence," with a focus on intimate partner violence, gangs, human trafficking, and post-COVID violence.

It's important for academics to hear from people who have lived the experiences they're researching, said Lisa Jewell, conference co-chair and a U of S research associate at the Centre for Forensics Behavioural Science and Justice Studies.

"We want to provide diverse perspectives on this issue. So for instance, we had Str8 Up come in and deliver a presentation to speak about their intervention model for helping individuals exit gangs," Jewell said on Tuesday.

Str8 Up Saskatoon offers outreach and programming for current and former gang members.

The main topics at the conference are also big issues in Saskatchewan.

In 2022, Saskatchewan had the highest provincial rates of police-reported family violence in the country: 730 victims per 100,000 population, according to a 2023 Statistics Canada report. It also had the highest rates of intimate partner violence, at 732 victims per 100,000.

The academic research presented at the conference can have real world applications to help front-line workers, such as strategies for identifying early warning signs of partner violence, Jewell said.

"As researchers, what we want to do is help people who are working in the field have interventions that they can implement to help reduce the perpetration of this type of violence," Jewell said.

"So they learn about the theory behind what are some of the reasons why we treat perpetrators of violence in certain ways, and they also get to learn more about the statistics and about the victim's personal experience."

The conference also included presentations from Saskatoon police, the provincial government, and community-based organizations.