Domestic violence deaths hit hard in Kindersley
SASKATOON Residents of Kindersley have been coming to terms with the shock of losing a well-known member of the community, a mother of four and grandmother, in what police believe was a murder-suicide late last week.
Saskatchewan RCMP believe 64-year-old Elsie Gartner was killed by her 66-year-old husband before he killed himself in their recently sold home.
The couple was in the process of divorcing and hadn’t come to the RCMP’S awareness for any previous domestic violence situation, RCMP said Friday.
In an interview on Tuesday, Kindersley Mayor Rod Perkins said nearly all of Elsie Gartner’s family lived in the community. The couple had four daughters and were private people, he said. Elsie Gartner had worked at a care manor in the town.
“You start out with shock and disbelief and many of us have been out here for a long time and there’s never been anything like this,” Perkins said.
Since the deaths, residents have been talking about domestic violence and many have had their eyes opened to what it is, he added.
Saskatchewan had the highest rate of incidents of intimate partner violence in 2018 among all provinces, according to a Statistics Canada report released on Dec. 12, the day Elsie Gartner died.
The province had a higher rate of such reports, despite a decline of six per cent in the number of incidents reported — 4,763 incidents, or 1,066 per 100,000 people. Saskatchewan also had the highest rate of domestic violence against children and youth — 453 incidents per 100,000 people.
Jo-ann Dusel, executive director of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan (PATHS), said the numbers in the report show not enough is being done to address the issue.
Dusel was on the Domestic Violence Death Review panel, which released a report and 19 recommendations in May 2018 after looking at 48 domestic homicides that occurred between 2005 and 2014.
She wants existing services to be more “adequately resourced,” citing funding increases that haven’t kept up with inflation.
Dusel said she wants the government to move forward on the recommendation to implement programs in schools to provide age-appropriate education about healthy relationships and where children can turn for help if they experience abuse.
“The only way we can make changes in the rates of this form of violence in Saskatchewan is actually to change the norm, change people’s idea of what’s OK in a relationship,” Dusel said.
In a prepared statement, the province’s minister responsible for the status of women, Tina Beaudry-mellor, said the government has acted on recommendations from the review.
She noted the government enacted Clare’s Law, which provides domestic violence survivors with five days of paid leave from work, for example.
It has also created a domestic violence risk checklist for municipal police, she noted.
Beaudry-mellor offered condolences to Elsie Gartner’s family, friends, the first responders and the community.
Gartner is remembered as a competitive bowler who made it to provincials on a doubles bowling team.
Her teammate at the tournament, Barry Knight, described her as “fun-loving” and said she enjoyed the tournament and they were among the first to congratulate the champions.
“It is typical of Elsie that, given more than her share of hardships in her life, she endured them all with determination and a smile — in just the same fashion that she accepted the fact that we didn’t win it all,” he wrote in a message to The Starphoenix.
For more information about supports available to people experiencing domestic violence, visit 211 Saskatchewan online or call 2-1-1. You can also visit PATHS abuse hotline list online.
The only way we can make changes in the rates of this form of violence (is to change) people’s idea of what’s OK in a relationship.