Stop the violence

It’s hard to believe the debate that started with the Harvey Weinstein scandal is not broad enough already.

After all, it encompasses men who are accused of rape (Weinstein) or child molestation (Alabama’s Roy Moore) as well as those apologizing for inappropriate hugging (Pixar’s John Lasseter) or even thoughtless remarks (Tory MP James Bezan).

But on Dec. 6, the 28th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre — now known as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women — it’s time to widen the focus further, much further.

The shooting of 14 women at École Polytechnique in Montreal reminds us that sexual assaults are far from the only type of violence women suffer at the hands of men, or in the case of female genital mutilation, often other women.

Those horrific assaults deserve the same kind of focused spotlight that the Weinstein scandal has shone on sexual assault.

The first step is to figure out how big the problem is. After all, you can’t fix what you don’t measure. But the last time a large-scale survey was conducted on the issue of violence against women in this country was way back in 1993.

Disturbingly, it found that half of Canadian women over the age of15 had experienced some kind of physical or sexual violence.

That alone should have sounded alarm bells that more data and focused action was needed to prevent all types of violence against women and girls.

Sensibly, the Trudeau government committed $101 million in June to a strategy to combat gender-based violence. About three-quarters of the money is earmarked for collecting and sharing data.

In the meantime, there are numbers from studies on specific issues that give an indication of the depth and breadth of the problem of violence against women — around the world, in Canada, and in Ontario.

Consider, for example, that the World Health Organization says female genital mutilation has been practiced on more than 200 million women and girls alive today.

Or that a one-day study in Canada in April 2014, found that 4,476 women and 3,493 children were staying in domestic violence shelters.

Or that in this province, Indigenous women are three times more likely than other women to be murdered.

On Dec. 6, as we mourn the 14 women who lost their lives at École Polytechnique, it’s time to widen the discourse from sexual violence against women to all forms of violence against women. Only when the extent of it is exposed can it be stopped.