Ontario must take action to end the killing of women
In Canada, a woman is killed every six days as a result of intimate partner violence. On average in Ontario, a woman is murdered by her current/former spouse or another family member approximately every 13 days. Shocking as these statistics are, by March 14, Ontario surpassed both of them. Since Jan. 1 of this year, 15 murders of women, their children and family members have been reported by media.
Holly Hamilton, 29, Hamilton; Baljit Thandi, 32, Brampton; Avtar Kaur, 60, Brampton; Elaine Bellevue, 61, Mississauga; Jan Singh, 70, Oakville; Barbara Kovic, 76, Etobicoke; Raya Turunen, 88, Ryerson Township; Ulla Theoret, 55, Ryerson Township; Paul Theoret, 28, Ryerson Township; Safaa Marina, 53, Nepean; Brenda Rich- ardson, 77, Kenora; Alicia Lewandowski, 25, Mississauga; Krassimira Pejcinovski, 39, Ajax; Roy Pejcinovski, 15, Ajax; Venallia Pejcinovski, 13, Ajax.
Those charged with killing them: husbands, ex- or would-be boyfriends, and other men known to them.
Since 1990, the Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses has collected media reports of 712 (to Nov. 24, 2017) women murdered by their husband/ex-husband, boyfriend/exboyfriend or other male identified person known to them.
The acts of femicide in Ontario in just the first 11 weeks of 2018 extend beyond women to their family members including Baljit Thandi’s mother, Avtar Kaur; Ulla Theoret’s mother, Raya Turunen and her adult son Paul; and Krassimira Pejcinovski’s young children Roy and Venallia.
Gender-based violence remains a pervasive issue for too many women and their children. Indigenous women, trans women, older women, newcomer women and women living with disabilities are at increased risk of experiencing violence because of systemic barriers and system failures. This is a public issue, requiring a public response.
The damage done goes well beyond those killed to those who remain behind. And, as Renfrew County learned in 2015 when Basil Borutski killed three women with whom he had been involved, the entire community is affected.
The community’s victim impact statement read at Borutski’s sentencing hearing said in part: “(Our community) doesn’t feel safe any more for many of us. We struggle as a community to know whether safety from men’s violence against women is really possible.”
As families and communities are left with the devastating impact of loss and trauma from women’s lives taken since 1990, there is much more work to do. Changing this reality requires action and engagement with all levels of government.
We know these murders are preventable and a future without this violence is possible. We also know that violence is an issue for at least one in three women in their intimate relationships, women who never make the headlines. This spring we can vote for candidates who are committed to ending gender-based violence.
Let’s do it.