‘It Doesn’t Matter What Their Status Is’: Newcomer Women Fleeing Violence in St. John’s (NL)

Open Door

‘It Doesn’t Matter What Their Status Is’: Newcomer Women Fleeing Violence in St. John’s (NL)

Katarina Gavrilyuk Sep 9, 2026

The entrance to Iris Kirby House in St. John's, a two storey building with yellow siding and a covered porch, with signs reading Shelter Office and Administration Office beside the door.

Most of the women staying at Iris Kirby House in St. John’s are newcomers to Canada. Jaime Ryan of the shelter and Kaberi Sarma-Debnath, executive director of the Multicultural Women’s Organization of Newfoundland and Labrador, describe what makes leaving harder for immigrant women, from status that depends on a spouse’s permit, to fears about custody, to not knowing that what they are experiencing is a crime in Canada.

Katarina Gavrilyuk

Website: http://chmr.ca

Katarina Gavrilyuk is the LJI reporter covering the newcomer, immigrant, and refugee beat for CHMR 93.5 FM in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Having arrived in Canada as a newcomer in 2022, she has since focused her work on giving an authentic voice to diverse populations navigating resettlement in the province. Her reporting highlights human-centered narratives, local entrepreneurship, and systemic issues, documenting what it truly means to build a life and find home in Newfoundland and Labrador.