More than 100 groups press Ontario to declare gender-based violence an epidemic

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More than 100 organizations in the gender-based violence sector are urging Ontario Premier Doug Ford to declare an epidemic of intimate-partner violence in the province.

In an open letter published Wednesday, shelters, victims’ services agencies and advocacy groups highlighted the intensity of violence experienced by women, two-spirit people and gender-diverse people. That includes 62 recorded femicides in the province in the past year, according to the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, a co-signer of the letter.

“Currently in the province, there are more women, gender diverse people, and children in need of emergency shelter than there are beds to offer,” says the letter, which was released on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. The date commemorates the 14 women who were killed on Dec. 6, 1989, at a mass shooting at École Polytechnique at the University of Montreal.

Declaring intimate partner violence (IPV) an epidemic in Ontario was the first of 86 recommendations made by a jury at the high-profile Culleton, Kuzyk and Warmerdam (CKW) inquest last summer into a 2015 triple femicide in Renfrew County.

Though the Premier has so far rejected that recommendation, calls for a declaration have only grown louder – including in October, after a woman and three children were murdered in what police described as a case of IPV in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

More than 70 communities have declared IPV an epidemic at the local level.

Wednesday’s letter is testament to the urgency of the crisis, said Sami Pritchard, director of advocacy and communications for YWCA Toronto, a co-signer, in an interview.

“We can’t change what we refuse to name,” she said. “And by naming this crisis for what it is – as an epidemic – we’re sending a clear message to survivors and children fleeing violence, to the front-line workers, advocates and organizations supporting survivors, as well as the loved ones of those lost to femicide: that we see you. We believe you, we respect you and your life matters.”

In an e-mail statement Wednesday, Patrick Bissett, press secretary for Michael Parsa, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, said the government is “focused on actions that deliver concrete, tangible results.”

Mr. Bissett pointed to investments in “violence prevention and supports for victims and survivors, including programs and services such as emergency shelters, counselling, 24-hour crisis lines, safety planning, and transitional housing.”

The provincial government issued a news release on Wednesday that touted an investment of more than $18-million to roughly 400 service providers within the anti-violence sector “to help them hire more staff, improve services and increase their ability to provide services to women and children.”

The government also said they would be investing another $546,000 in the Women’s Economic Security Program and the Investing in Women’s Futures program “to create more opportunities for women to build skills, gain employment and become financially independent.”

This funding is part of an allotment provided by the federal government under its national action plan on gender-based violence. It was announced in November that Ontario would receive $162-million over four years to be put toward three federal priorities: prevention efforts; reaching underserved and at-risk populations; and stabilizing the long-struggling gender-based violence sector.

The national action plan is still being rolled out across the country, based on bilateral agreements with provincial governments. The most recent agreement with New Brunswick, which will receive $16.3-million over four years, was announced earlier this week.

Specific details of these funding agreements have not yet been made publicly available. Ontario released a breakdown of its plan priorities on Wednesday, which they say will “guide these investments over the duration of the agreement.”

Erin Lee, the executive director of the Lanark County Interval House, a shelter for women and children fleeing violence, said “a diverse cross-section of anti-violence agencies across the province” are reflected in the list of names on the open letter, which includes her organization.

“It wasn’t just rural agencies. It wasn’t just urban,” Ms. Lee said in an interview, adding that as they await a declaration, that long list of agencies will also be watching to see how the national action plan funding is rolled out.

She said the general details revealed Wednesday left her with more questions.

“It’s really important for the province to know that advocates are waiting to see how the province makes decisions, and where they allocate the money – and how they consider the CKW inquest recommendations as they make those allocations.”