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Researching links between animal abuse and gender-based violence

Woman holding her dog in her lap
Published Mar 11, 2024 at 4:00am

Sue O'Neill, a graduate student, is integrating her interests in work and public education at Saint Mary’s University by conducting research that explores the correlations between gender-based violence and animal abuse.

In her inaugural year in the Women and Gender Studies program, O'Neill serves as a teaching assistant at the campus Sexual Violence Support Centre while concurrently advancing her role as the Manager of Programs for HUMANE Canada's ACT (Awareness, Collaboration, Tools) Project.

“Our vision at Humane Canada is to have a humane Canada—to make positive, progressive change to end animal cruelty. But as Humane Canada was doing this work, we realized to make things better for animals, we have to make things better for humans because our fates are really intertwined. Humane Canada has been focused on a one-welfare approach to reach our goals of improving animal welfare”.