Twenty women lost their lives this year at the hands of their intimate partner as of November 30, according to the monthly femicide count from the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses.
Despite the ongoing crisis of violence against women, Doug Ford’s PC government continues to drag its feet, deciding recently to cut short a previously planned study launched when Ford refused to declare the pattern of abuse an epidemic claiming more work needed to be done to understand the issue.
The comprehensive consultation that was supposed to be done has now been curtailed.
PC MPP Jess Dixon, who co-leads the Standing Committee on Justice Policy alongside NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, said a possible spring election forced her to expedite the timeline of the study into intimate partner violence. Plans are now in place to complete a report by February. Ford has not ruled out an early election next year, though no official decision has been made.
The Province has ignored repeated calls from advocacy groups who have demanded the PCs immediately pass the NDP private member’s Bill 173 requesting intimate partner violence be declared an epidemic in Ontario — a measure that nearly 100 municipalities, including Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon and the Region of Peel have taken.
The PCs claim the rates of violence do not qualify as an epidemic.
On numerous occasions, Ford has deflected questions from advocates and reporters, refusing to make the declaration despite the rising rates of violence, including death, perpetrated by men against women.
While the provincial government initially indicated it would reject Bill 173 when it was tabled in March, in a surprising twist, the PCs agreed in April to support it. But rather than passing it immediately, a decision was made to send it to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy “to conduct an in-depth, thorough investigation.” The PCs claimed they wanted to form a task force to consult with survivors and service providers across the province to get a better idea of what actions need to be taken ahead of making the declaration. The move was criticized by advocates who viewed the decision as a delay tactic. They highlighted that the research, recommendations and next steps are clear from the numerous studies and consultations that have already been completed.
The committee pledged to travel across the province to hear from survivors. This included a visit to Renfrew County to meet with stakeholders involved in a coroner’s inquest into the 2015 murders of three women at the hands of former partners. What was initially meant to be an extensive consultation process has turned into a cancelled trip to Renfrew and those discussions will now take place at Queen’s Park or over video calls.
Wong-Tam, who tabled the private members bill and co-leads the committee, told The Pointer stakeholders are “very disappointed that the Ford government scaled back their promise of a travelling committee that would meet people in their communities across Ontario,” which they said would have been more accessible for francophone, Indigenous and rural communities.
The PCs are “setting the wrong tone by dramatically scaling back” their promise to survivors of intimate partner violence, instead of “a standing committee with the full backing of this entire House to go to all parts of this province.”
When the decision to cut the consultation process short was announced, Dixon promised progress would be made: “No one is going to be able to stop me from working on this and from advocating for this.”
The report from the task force, which will include recommendations identifying next steps, is expected to be completed in February, at least two months earlier than planned.
The response was expected to be rolled out in three phases. The first phase was completed after meeting with more than 90 stakeholders selected by the committee throughout the summer. The second phase—which includes feedback from stakeholders within the government—was expected to commence in September, but work did not begin until late November. The input has been dramatically curtailed, a sticking point among NDP opposition critics who have raised concerns over the condensed timeframe to receive feedback and raise questions. Phase three, initially expected to begin in the fall, will be open to the public for input starting the end of January, according to the Province.
Declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic was the first of 86 recommendations outlined in the 2022 Coroner’s Inquest into the murders of three women in Renfrew County but Ford has repeatedly refused to act on it. In response to the coroner's inquest, the PCs stated IPV would not be considered an epidemic “as it is not an infectious or communicable disease.”
“What they’re saying to us is this issue is not a priority for them. They can continue to do absolutely nothing by saying absolutely nothing,” Wong-Tam previously said. “I think that we need to speed up all actions as quickly as possible.”
Advocates and survivors have pointed out that recognizing IPV as an epidemic would unlock certain types of government funding for organizations across Ontario that are desperately working to help a surging number of victims and survivors while resources remain scarce. It would also allow the Province to coordinate systems and services and implement policy and legislative changes necessary to prevent this violent crime.
“Declaring IPV to be an epidemic has both symbolic and practical value,” NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky, the sponsor of the bill, previously said. “It moves IPV out of the shadows and into the public health realm, where it belongs. It shines a light on this significant issue and opens the door to the all-of-government and all-of-society discussions that are needed if we are actually going to eradicate IPV. And it will help save lives.”
The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability reported 850 killings of women or girls throughout the country between 2018 and 2022. According to the organization’s 2018-2022 #CallItFemicide report—which includes all of violence against women, perpetrated by intimate partners, family members or others— the largest group of women and girls killed in 2022 were in Ontario (36 percent) with 66 of the 184 femicides that took place that year. This is attributed largely to Ontario being the most populous province. In 2022, on average, one woman or girl was killed every two days in Ontario.
With attempted murders included, the figure becomes one almost every other day. These numbers only show a small piece of a much larger problem as these crimes continue to be vastly underreported.
Evidence from police agencies across Ontario show how the issue has reached epidemic levels. For five years, intimate partner and family violence has been the most common citizen initiated call to the Peel Regional Police. In 2021, the 17,000 IPV and family violence calls to Peel Police equated to an average of 45 disputes every day, or about two every hour. While not all of these result in death, the disturbing numbers illustrate just how widespread the crimes are.
The Observatory has been calling on the federal government and other leaders to recognize femicide as a distinct crime, which the organization says at its most basic level means “officially recognizing those killings in which women and girls were killed because of their sex or gender as femicide.”
“Official recognition of femicide would help to make femicide visible and legitimize it as a social problem worthy of urgent attention,” the report underscores. “The official recognition of femicide is a small, but important, step toward real and social change — change that has so far been elusive for women and girls in this country and globally.”
With the Legislature on break for the winter period with no plans to return before March, no meetings have been scheduled for the nearly three-month recess. Wong-Tam said there will likely be online meetings scheduled over the break, although it is unclear if any have been arranged.