Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow’s motion to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic passes council

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Toronto city council has declared intimate partner violence an epidemic, joining a growing list of Canadian communities making such a determination and putting pressure on the Ontario government to reverse its opposition to doing so.

The vote Thursday was unanimous and came after three members of council spoke powerfully about how they had experienced or seen such violence and its after-effects.

“I witnessed intimate partner violence in my home,” said Mayor Olivia Chow, telling the story about how her father beat her mother, who tried to cover up the abuse but eventually took refuge in Ms. Chow’s basement apartment to rebuild her life.

“A lot of women now, and their children, are trapped because they can’t afford to move out.”

According to Statistics Canada, police reported 114,132 national cases of intimate partner violence in 2021, the most recent year for which there are data. The agency said that was the “seventh consecutive year of gradual increase” for this type of violence.

Declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic was the first of 86 recommendations issued last year after a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of three women murdered by a mutual ex-partner in eastern Ontario.

The killer, Basil Bortuski, had a long history of violence against women and was on probation when he targeted his former partners. He shot Carol Culleton, Nathalie Warmerdam and Anastasia Kuzyk at their homes during a rampage in Renfrew County in September, 2015. Mr. Bortuski was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.

Representatives of EVA (End Violence Against Women) Renfrew County were among the community groups that came to Toronto city hall to lend support to the declaration.

In a statement, EVA co-ordinator JoAnne Brooks said that the wave of change in the battle to end intimate partner violence is growing and “the tides are turning.”

Ontario’s government rejected the recommendation in June, arguing that intimate partner violence, while serious, does not meet the public health definition of an epidemic as a rapidly spreading outbreak of infection. In a statement, Solicitor-General spokesperson Hunter Kell pointed to the government’s spending of more than $250-million on violence prevention and victim support.

Toronto mayors are able to designate two items on the council agenda to receive priority during the debate. Ms. Chow chose an item related to refugee support – for which she received unanimous support Wednesday by council – and Thursday’s declaration on intimate partner violence.

While Thursday’s declaration is largely symbolic, it calls for municipal staff to determine how best to take action through “meaningful investments” in city programs and services.

The declaration also adds weight to the growing trend of making such declarations across the province. More than two dozen individual towns and cities across Ontario have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic, from rural areas such as Lanark County to larger cities including Brampton.

The vote called as well for a number of actions from the federal and provincial governments, including that Ottawa add femicide to the Criminal Code and that Queen’s Park provide greater support to address intimate partner violence.

“We need to give hope to women and children that experience violence now,” Ms. Chow said.

During the session, councillor Lily Cheng described shortcomings in support services, citing the plight of a pregnant woman with young children who reached out to her as she struggled to find a safe home away from her partner during the pandemic.

Speaker Frances Nunziata also related being abused in the 1970s by her then-husband, and feeling she couldn’t tell anyone. She revealed what had happening only later, after moving back in with her parents, and says she was met with criticism that maybe she wasn’t a good enough wife.

“It was very difficult to talk about it because you felt ashamed,” she said. “You didn’t talk about it but you lived it, every day.”

With files from Dustin Cook and Molly Hayes