Governments, police and courts must take immediate steps to tackle violence, say Peggy Nash and Pam Cross

In December 2004, Premier

Dalton McGuinty announced his government’s “ Domestic Violence Action

Plan,” to support

its commitment

to end violence

against women.

Since then, 22

women in Ontario

have been murdered by men with

whom they have

been intimately involved.

It takes more than a

year to end something as

entrenched as violence

against women, and this government has undertaken important initiatives that could

reduce violence and improve

services to women and children. However, an annual death

toll of 22 ( and 208 women in

the past 10 years) is too high.

The recent murders of Lori

Dupont by her ex-boyfriend

and Sandra Schott by her estranged husband, serve as powerful reminders of why immediate, serious reform is needed.

Dupont was murdered while

at work and after seeking protection through the courts.

Schott was slain three weeks

after the police escorted her estranged, violent husband from her home and several hours after she was reported missing. Both women were failed by institutions they counted on to protect them.

Dupont’s April peace bond application, opposed by her abuser, had a December court date. This is unconscionable. Protecting women from abusive men must be made a priority.

However, even if Dupont had been given a quick court date and had received a peace bond, there is no certainty this would have stopped Mark Daniel from killing her. Many of the women killed every year by their former partners have the “ protection” of a no- contact order at the time they are murdered.

Breaches of family court restraining orders need to be made criminal offences. The orders must be standardized to make it easy for police to enforce them.

Police, lawyers, court staff and judges need ap- propriate training so they understand that not only does violence against women not stop when the relationship ends, it often escalates. Applications for peace bonds should result in the immediate issuing of a temporary order until a court date for both parties can be found.

Risk assessments should be mandatory in bail hearings relating to violence against women. Once a bail order has been breached, there should be no second chance; too many men are released after breaching bail conditions, only to repeat it again and again, often with the violent abuse escalating each time. Many women who have left abusive men are especially vulnerable at work, where the abuser knows he can find his victim. Some unions, including the Canadian Auto Workers union, have addressed this issue. It is something that should be followed by all workplaces, unionized or not, large or small. A good beginning would be to reinforce the message that workplace harassment and sexist discrimination will not be tolerated. Harassment complaint and investigation procedures can be included in collective agreements. These could provide for the right to refuse work in certain situations involving harassment. But dealing only with workplace harassment is insufficient. The CAW has validated women’s experiences by negotiating “ violence against women” language with employers. This helps protect a woman from discipline when she can show that poor performance or attendance at work is due to violence or abuse by her partner.

For the last 15 years, the CAW has also been negotiating a program of women’s advocates in the workplace.

Certainly, the men who killed Dupont and Schott, along with the other 20 women murdered in the last 12 months, must be held accountable. But so must the institutions that are assumed to take care of these matters. The recent conference organized by the Ontario government on domestic violence called “ Finding common ground,” offered people concerned about the problem the chance to come together to seek solutions.

Let us hope those with the power to make meaningful change have the courage to take the necessary steps. Peggy Nash is a senior representative of the Canadian Auto Workers union and co-chair of the Canadian Labour Congress Women’s Committee. Pamela Cross is a feminist lawyer and legal director of METRAC, the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children.