More than 100 organizations in Toronto have released an open letter urging the provincial government to declare Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) an epidemic.
In honour of National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, YWCA Toronto along with over a hundred other organizations issued a call of declaration in relation to IPV and GBV by publishing a letter addressed to the province.
The letter states that service providers and advocates are at the forefront of the epidemic and are witnessing the fragile state of GBV across the province.
“As service providers and advocates, we are seeing firsthand the heightened number of women, gender diverse people and their children fleeing violence and know how critical support for the GBV sector is right now. Currently in the province, there are more women, gender diverse people, and children in need of emergency shelter than there are beds to offer. Across Canada, approximately 699 women and 236 children are turned away nightly because shelters are full,” the letter read.
The letter goes on to say that according to Statistics Canada, 2021 marked the seventh consecutive year that police-reported cases of intimate partner violence rose.
Specifically, women and gender diverse people living with disabilities, those with precarious immigration status, rural area residents, and those who are Indigenous, newcomers or racialized face increased levels of violence and are at greater risk of intimate partner violence.
“The call for a declaration comes after the province’s refusal in June 2023 to do so in accordance with the first of 86 recommendation in the Culleton, Kuzyk and Warmerdam Inquest Report; which followed the 2015 triple femicide of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam in Renfrew County,” a media release by the YWCA read.
Since then, survivors, advocates and organizations have continued the fight to raise awareness for IPV, GBV and femicide and for greater efforts in handling the violence accordingly.
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The initiative of municipal declarations was started in Lanark County on Dec. 14, 2022. Today, more than 75 municipalities across the province have declared IPV and/or GBV an epidemic.
“Femicide, a form of IPV and GBV and which is defined as the killing of women, children, trans women, 2-Spirit People and gender diverse people, is most commonly perpetrated by current or former intimate partners (31 per cent), often men. In the past year, there have been 62 recorded femicides in Ontario,” YWCA said.
President and CEO of Canadian Women’s Foundation Paulette Senior points out that GBV and IPV have reached epidemic proportions and that is why provincial support is integral.
“…Forty-four per cent of women experience violence from an intimate partner in their lifetimes, and risk of abuse is higher for those who are marginalized like Indigenous women and women with disabilities. Two thirds of people in Canada know a woman who has been abused, and a woman or girl is killed by violence every 48 hours,” she said in a statement to Now Toronto on Thursday.
“The Province of Ontario has an incredible opportunity to heed the call for change and stand as a national leader in safety for women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Naming the problem for what it is – an epidemic – can spark effective investment in prevention and that’s the goal I urge every leader to strive for today: a future free of femicide and the threat and fear of gender-based violence,” she continued.
Executive Director of Woman Abuse Council of Toronto (WomanACT) Harmy Mendoza says naming it as an epidemic is an important first step because once it’s named, there is attention to the issue, however, the facts remain the same, it is still only the beginning of the fight.
“…We also want to ensure we have action and very concrete resources and investments, not only into what the current services are providing,” she said in an interview with Now Toronto.
Mendoza emphasized that early intervention is key to prevention.
“We have to start being vocal about how in the province of Ontario, we have zero tolerance for IPV and GBV. That we are doing everything we can not only by way of naming it but by investing into preventative actions to eliminate gender based violence and intimate partner violence…We did not want to wait for the next femicide,” she said.
Coinciding with Mendoza’s position, Executive Director of Aura Freedom Marissa Kokkoros argues that additional funding for initiatives is vital towards preventing GBV.
“…We need more funding for initiatives that prevent gender-based violence – not just respond to it when the violence has already happened, and when the trauma has already ripped through that family, affecting them for generations. Women are the caretakers of their families and communities in most cultures, and when you break them down, you break down all those they carry on their backs,” she explained in a statement to Now Toronto.
