Overall, many incidents of violence committed outside spousal relationships were not reported to the police, and a similar trend is seen for spousal violence.

O. whereas domestic, marital, economic and sexual violence against women is an infringement of human rights that affects all social, cultural and economic strata;

For a New Zealander to be eligible to support a residence-class visa application under partnership policy they must not have been a partner in more than one previous application, so there's a maximum of two foreigners who can be brought to New Zealand under this policy; not to have been a partner in a successful application in the previous five years; not to have been the perpetrator of domestic violence resulting in a domestic violence visa for a previous partner; and they must meet certain character requirements, including not having a conviction for sexual or domestic violence offences.

According to this report, not only do aboriginal women report higher rates of spousal violence, but they are also significantly more likely than non-aboriginal women to report the most severe and potentially life-threatening forms of violence, including being beaten or choked, having had a gun or knife used against them, or being sexually assaulted (54% of aboriginal women compared with 37% of non-aboriginal women).

Although very few statistics are available on the rate of violence against aboriginal women in communities in Quebec in particular, a 2006 Statistics Canada report entitled “Measuring Violence Against Women” shows that rates of spousal violence and homicide are higher among aboriginal women than among non-aboriginal women or aboriginal men.

Increasingly, we are becoming aware of the problems children face, not only in situations of spousal abuse, as studies show that children are also victims in spousal abuse, but also in cases of child abuse.