View source for Deborah Sinclair (Canadian social worker)

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{{Infobox Person
| name        = Deborah Sinclair
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| birth_date  = <!-- {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} -->
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| death_date  = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
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| nationality = [[Canada]]
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| known_for   = serving as a expert witness in cases involving [[intimate partner violence]]
| occupation  = [[social worker]]
}} 
'''Deborah Sinclair''' is a [[Canadian people|Canadian]] [[social worker]] who has specialized in working with women who are victims of [[intimate partner violence]].<ref name=Cbc2019-03-25a/>  She is known for serving as an expert witness in court cases where intimate partner violence has played a role.  She has been working with victims of violence for over thirty years.
<ref name=kfacc2010/>

In 1985 the [[Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services]] published a 185 page manual Sinclair wrote, entitled ''"Understanding Wife Assault A Training Manual for Counsellors and Advocates"''.<ref name=SinclairUnderstandingWifeAssault/><ref name=theglobeandmail2010-10-29/>  [[Lois Mitchell (PhD)|Lois Mitchell]] quotes Sinclair's book in the ''[[Baptist Atlantic]]'': ''"Two-fifths of all homicides in Canada are between spouses. The vast majority of the victims are women.Those women who do kill their partners are usually acting in self-defence."''<ref name=BreakingTheSilence/>  [[Transition House]], a shelter in [[Newfoundland]], quotes Sinclair's defintion of abuse on its home page.<ref name=transitionhouse/>  In her 1998 book ''"Search for a Safe Place"'' Vijay Agnew notes a gap in Sinclair's book -- that it does not address the complications of abuse in minority communities from different cultures.<ref name=SearchSafePlace/>

In 2002, Sinclair gave several days of testimony before the inquest into the deaths of [[Gillian Hadley]] and [[Ralph Hadley]], a murder-suicide.<ref name=TorontoStar2002-12-01/>  She noted that support for men at risk of abusing their partners was not available, unless they had already been charged with a violent crime.

In 2010 the [[YWCA]] gave Sinclair a woman of distinction award.<ref name=YouTubeYWCA/>  Sinclair was the keynote speaker at the [[Second Annual Health Equity Forum]].  In 2010, she was a member of the organizing committee, sat on the Plenary Panel, and several other panels, at the [[Reducing the Risk of Lethal Violence]] conference, sponsored by the [[Centre for Research & Education on Violence against Women and Children]].<ref name=kfacc2010/>

In 2014, when she was a witness in [[R. v. Hutt]], the judge agreed with objections from the lawyers for the Defence, and barred Sinclair from characterizing brutal treatment as "torture", and from introducing documents about torture from [[Amnesty International]].<ref name=IntimatePartnerViolence/><ref name=ottawacitizen2014-12-22/>  

Sinclair's testimony at [[Joshua Boyle]]'s trial was challenged.<ref name=Cbc2019-03-25a/>  Prosecutors had Sinclair prepare a 19 page report on the case.<ref name=thetelegram2019-03-26/>  Under questioning from Boyle's lawyer, [[Lawrence Greenspon]], Sinclair acknowledged she ''"did not profess to be an expert on whether certain effects resulted from domestic abuse or long-term captivity."''<ref name=nationalobserver2019-03-29/>  [[Christie Blatchford]] noted that Greenspon seemed to intend to challenge both Sinclair's expertise and her neutrality.