It’s an epidemic (almost)

On March 7^th, the eve of International Women’s Day, four NDP MPPs – Kristyn Wong-Tam, Lisa Gretzky, Jill Andrew and Peggy Sattler — introduced Bill 173. It’s a short bill, consisting of one sentence:

“The Government of Ontario shall recognize that intimate partner violence is an epidemic in Ontario.”

Many of you will remember that this is the first of 86 recommendations made by the jury at the CKW inquest. The inquest examined the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam in rural Renfrew County, who were all killed by the same perpetrator on September 22, 2015. (The perpetrator recently died of natural causes while serving a 70-year prison sentence.)

It’s a brilliant recommendation, and the five jurors are to be applauded for having had the vision to make it.

Despite the jury’s brilliance, in its official response to the inquest recommendations last June, the government rejected it (and several others that called for greater accountability and transparency), claiming that the word epidemic “is used for the spread of disease,” while also asserting its ongoing commitment to working to address intimate partner violence in Ontario.

From the grassroots up

Despite the provincial government’s rejection of this recommendation, communities across Ontario, starting with Lanark County, passed resolutions making the declaration in their municipalities. By the time Bill 173 was introduced, close to 100 municipalities from small to large had done so. While this work was initially led by IPV advocates, it wasn’t long until organizations such as the Canadian Federation of University Women, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, among others, passed their own resolutions while calling on the province to do the same.

I’ll admit to a certain amount of cynicism when I heard about the NDP Bill. After all, this is not a government that likes to be told what to do. It also does not like to back down from a position it has already taken. Government response to  violence against women has never been an issue that sways significant numbers of voters. Why would a private member’s bill, I thought, change that?

Well, I was wrong. In a move that caught many of us by surprise, the government of Ontario has moved a significant step closer to declaring intimate partner violence to be an epidemic by indicating its support for Bill 173.

What does this mean?

Wednesday evening, Bill 173 passed Second Reading in the legislature. The government is to be commended for taking this important step, even if they are a bit late in doing so.

The next step in the process is for it to go to the standing committee on justice for further review. The government could have waived this step, but it chose not to. Instead, in the words of Government House Leader Paul Calandra, as they appear in Hansard:

“The premier has asked that we seek the advice of the standing committee on justice to do an in-depth study on all of the aspects with respect to intimate partner [violence]. . . . a very in-depth study [and] come back with recommendations on what supports are available, how can we do better. . . . I think the committee will have to go into all parts of the province and be given the tools and the resources that it needs to come back with the recommendations that will ensure that . . . we continue to lead the nation in terms of how we respond.”

The progress of Bill 173 through the legislative process is important. As Erin Lee, Executive Director of Lanark County Interval House and Community Support, who spoke at a media conference at Queen’s Park on Wednesday said:

“If we don’t see it and we don’t name it, it’s very hard for us to change it. And if we don’t start doing something to change it, we will continue to see the numbers of femicides in Ontario [go up].”

NO MORE STUDIES!

As I was writing this, my friend, Sarah, texted me to say:

“Why do they need to “study it further” when the inquest was a legit master class in understanding this issue and what needs to happen?”

She’s right. Ontario is rich in the information needed to support making good decisions about how we can improve our responses to intimate partner violence and, ultimately, end it.

For the past 20 years, the province’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee has been producing evidence-based reports that include extensive recommendations for system change.

The CKW inquest produced 67 recommendations for the provincial government in addition to the one to declare IPV an epidemic. Many of those could be implemented immediately with no further study.

Recommendations from previous inquests into domestic violence related homicides are ripe for implementation.

As Kirsten Mercer – who represented the Renfrew County Women’s Coalition, EVA — at the inquest, said on Wednesday:

“I think what we’re going to hear is that we know a lot of the answers already. And so let’s not spend a lot of time rehashing things that we have already learned. Let’s put that into practice right away.”

We can keep it simple. Accountability and transparency are paramount. Doug Ford needs to re-establish the very successful Premier’s Roundtable on Violence Against Women, give it a budget and formal mandate, and turn to those experts for advice on how to move forward.