• You may call police either before or after you have gone to a shelter;
• Many police forces have a policy that they will lay charges in any domestic assault situation;
• Some police forces will require evidence of physical abuse before laying a charge;

Once a charge is laid, police can obtain an emergency restraining order on behalf of the abused family member(s), which may be obtained on a 24­hour basis from a presiding justice of the peace or a provincial court judge, without notice to an allegedly abusive spouse.