The Haliburton Women's Emergency House: From Bioregionalism to Feminist Activism

As a focus for exploring feminism and bioregionalism, the paper looks at the Women's Emergency House in Haliburton, a shelter for woman suffering abuse which opened in 1995.  Organized and operated by volunteers, the House is portrayed as representing activism as the women of Haliburton worked towards ending violence and in turn, created a more peaceful community.

Introducing the work is a discussion of feminist research and the struggle the author felt in bringing together the components of the researcher/community activist relationship. Violence against women is looked at with specific reference to the issues unique to rural communities such as Haliburton and the founding and functioning of the Haliburton Women's Emergency House, based on the Habitat for Humanity model, is outlined. Newspaper clippings dealing with issues surrounding the project are included in an appendix.