Taking action against Intimate Partner Violence

Police tape wraps around Strathcona Park and John Costello School, marking where a woman lost her life.

It happened here in my neighbourhood, just blocks from my parents’ home.

It could happen on any street in Canada.

Intimate partner violence.

It needs to stop.

In Canada, a woman is killed by her partner every six days, according to Statistics Canada in 2019.

Every six days.

Only one in five victims of intimate partner violence report their experiences to police. Many victims are too afraid to come forward, too afraid to leave.

● Do I have access to safe housing?

● Do I have the mental health supports I need to face this?

● Can I be financially independent without my partner?

● How can I protect myself?

● Will it ever stop?

As Canadians, we have to take action. We must do more.

We need to bring together victims and their family and friends to better understand the challenges they face. By listening to the most impacted, we can identify ways to streamline access to resources, remove bureaucratic hurdles and identify supports that must be developed.

We need to push past the constitutional barriers that keep provinces and the federal government from working in partnership. If we can move past them, we can create a truly national, a “pan-Canadian” framework that can include the federal Government, provincial governments, municipalities and Indigenous leadership.

If we can do this, we can find that the Federal Government can help by making strategic investments that address the root causes of victims being trapped by intimate partner violence. If we can do this together that means that we can find solutions and provide short term and long-term accessible housing, mental health supports and child-care options. Solutions that can also cross provincial boundaries; solutions that allow victims to relocate for their own safety.

Here in Calgary, police responded to more than 1,600 domestic violence calls each month in 2022.

I’m committing to hosting a roundtable discussion later this year on intimate partner violence, to bring together experts and to brainstorm new ways we can come together to protect our most vulnerable. Too many people are being hurt, their lives transformed or cut tragically short.

What we are doing now isn’t enough. It’s never enough.

We all need to act now…before more police tape goes up in our neighbourhoods, marking the loss of yet another life.

Bryndis