Peel Region declares intimate partner violence an epidemic and asks Ontario to do the same

Peel Region has declared gender and intimate partner violence an epidemic and is calling on Ontario to do the same in hopes of legislation addressing domestic violence.

At a meeting on Thursday, the region voted unanimously in favor of the term in an effort to raise awareness about the problem and get more money to tackle it.

“What we really need in this explanation of this epidemic is funding for these agencies so they can be there for the women who need it most,” said Peel and Brampton City Councilor Rowena Santos.

In 2021 alone, Peel Police responded to more than 17,000 incidents of family and partner violence, an average of nearly 45 incidents per day or about two per hour. Of the cases where charges were filed, police say 78 percent of the victims were women.

And proponents say that’s exactly what’s being reported.

While local statements are a big step forward in acknowledging the problem, victim support providers say they will need more funding to meet current and future demand.

The region is the latest to label the problem an epidemic. Twenty-five other local governments in Ontario have already done so, including the Durham Region, the City of Oakville and the Halton Region. According to a motion by the City of Brampton, Toronto did not make the move, although Ottawa did.

Declaring gender-based and intimate partner violence was the first recommendation by a coroner’s jury during last year’s Renfrew County inquest, which looked into the 2015 murders of three women: Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam. All three women were killed on the same day by the same man, despite red flags about his potential to do even more harm.

Recent deaths prompted movement

The region’s move comes a day after the city of Brampton declared such violence an epidemic in that city. Brampton also asked for provincial and federal funding to support victim support organizations, asked the federal government to use the term “femicide” in Canada’s Penal Code, and asked it to declare it an epidemic nationwide.

Santos says it was 11-year-old Riya Rajkumar, who died in February 2019, who brought the Brampton City Council’s attention to the issue. Her father was charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death.

More recently, in May, 43-year-old mother Davinder Kaur was killed after meeting her estranged husband in a park. Santos says these issues were at the forefront of her and Regional Councilor Navjit Kaur Brar, who are also the only two women on Brampton City Council, when they tried to get the motion passed.

“We saw what happened to Davinder Kaur, and she left behind four beautiful children. And how that affects the city of Brampton — it was repeated all over the city,” Brar said.

“We need to take tangible action.”

Pandemic exacerbated violence: advocate

Sharon Mayne Devine, the CEO of Catholic Family Services, the lead agency for Peel’s Safe Center, says the pandemic has exacerbated violence against women.

In the past year alone, she says 1,000 women in the city came to the center for support, nearly half between the ages of 30 and 39, and many with children.

“The more we can get the word out, the quicker we can act, the less serious the violence is,” Devine told Brampton City Council on Wednesday, noting it’s a good sign women feel empowered to get support .

But Devine says that until they get a commensurate increase in their funding, it will be difficult to both deliver the programming and care for the frontline staff who provide services to victims every day.

That’s something that Rebecca Pacheco, the public education and community collaboration coordinator for Peel Committee Against Women Abuse, is already seeing with her own organization, Embrave Agency to End Violence. The group operates two shelters for survivors of gender-based violence in the region.

“We are almost always at full capacity,” says Pacheco.

“The demand is greater than what the community services can provide and it’s appalling. It’s not the situation we want to be in, but it is.”

Pachecho says the next step for the group is to get the other municipalities in the region, Caledon and Mississauga, to take the same step.

“We have these conversations in Peel, but there are coordinating committees in this province doing similar work,” Pachecho said.

“We need more support,” says alderman

In its 2023 budget, the Ontario government said it has pledged more than $693 million since 2020 to support victims of violence, including emergency shelters, counseling services and 24-hour crisis lines. For the year 2023-24, she says she will invest an additional $2.5 million in youth violence, human trafficking prevention and victim support programming.

In an e-mail to CBC Toronto, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services said the Ontario government has released the 10-year-old National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violencejust as the federal, other provincial and territorial governments did last November.

“Our government is breaking down barriers so that women who have experienced violence can access timely and effective care, regardless of where they live, while also taking action to prevent and address violence against women and gender-based violence in all forms,” said the declaration. is reading.

“Our government will remain committed to preventing gender-based violence, addressing its root causes and providing support to victims, survivors and their families.”

“Demand is growing and our capacity to meet demand is shrinking,” said Devine.

Santos hopes to get more municipalities and regions on board in the future and hopefully the province as well.

“Because of that level of attention, we hope the voice will be loud enough across the province to say that we need more support on this issue,” Santos said.