Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
BARRY’S BAY – They came to honour those who had been lost – sisters, wives, mothers, daughters. They came to celebrate the work that has been done. They came to acknowledge the work left to be done. They came to support and encourage.
On June 28, the second anniversary of the release of jury recommendations from the coroner’s inquest into the killings of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam, nearly 100 people met in Barry’s Bay to talk and hold a vigil in Water Tower Park.
The first recommendation from the jury was that intimate partner violence (IPV) be declared an epidemic in Ontario. So far, 95 municipalities have done so. Earlier this spring, the Progressive Conservatives signaled they were prepared to support Bill 173, the Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2024. The private member bill, introduced by MPPs Kristen Wong-Tam and Jill Andrew, has passed second reading and is currently with the Standing Committee on Justice Policy. The committee indicated it would hold hearings over the summer and conduct public meetings in late summer/early autumn and be ready to report back by the time the legislature reconvenes in October. The chair of the committee, Progressive Conservative MPP Goldie Ghamari, was removed from caucus by Premier Doug Ford earlier in the day June 28. Any impact on the work of the committee is to be determined.
The Killaloe OPP detachment issued a media release on June 24 stating that, in a period of seven days, from June 17 to 23, four men had been charged in separate intimate partner violence incidents. The youngest was 15 years old.
Rural women, girls and transgender females are more at risk than those in urban areas. According to a study from the Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women and Children at Western University, rates of police-reported IPV are 75 per cent higher in rural areas. Those in rural areas are 30 per cent more likely to be threatened by a gun.
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