Groups call on Thunder Bay city council to declare gender-based violence an epidemic

Anti-violence groups in Thunder Bay are calling on council to declare gender-based violence an epidemic in the northwestern Ontario city.

If it does so, the city would join a growing number of municipalities, including Toronto, that have made the declaration in recent months. 

"It's a symbolic measure," said Gwen O'Reilly, executive director of the Northwestern Ontario Women's Centre and board member with the Thunder Bay and District Coordinating Committee to End Woman Abuse (TBDCCEWA).

"It doesn't cost anybody any money," she said. "But we also know that the World Health Organization, during COVID, declared violence against women as [a] shadow pandemic because it was occurring in such large numbers."

A media release issued by the Women's Centre, Beendigen, and TBDCCEWA states that in 2022, Thunder Bay police reported 2,300 incidents of intimate partner violence, with 703 charges against 267 individuals.

"We as an organization, the Women's Centre, have been doing court watch work for a number of years," O'Reilly said. "We've also sat at the co-ordinating committee table for many years.

"In all of these observations and discussions we have seen this growing trend of not only increasing incidents of violence against women, including intimate partner violence and sexual assault, but also insufficient response."

"There isn't a lot of accountability for perpetrators. There are few options for women to escape. And the violence doesn't end when women leave, it often gets worse."

The problem is pronounced in Thunder Bay, with Statistics Canada numbers showing the city has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence per capita in the country.

Thunder Bay declaring the issue a pandemic would help send a message to the province that more action is needed.

O'Reilly said an inquest following the 2015 murders of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam — all of whom killed by a man they each had a past relationship with — led to 86 recommendations to help stop intimate partner violence.

They include things like education for judges and police, and funding to help survivors escape abusive relationships.

"Especially what we see in our work is this need for a universal information system and a high level of acknowledgement and systemic advocacy and collaboration and communication among agencies who respond to this," O'Reilly said.

"Because there are so many rules about privacy, confidentiality and disclosure that prevent us from sharing information, especially when there's a criminal case happening. And sometimes that's information we need to provide safety for a woman, and often that is information that should not be shared with that perpetrator.

"If we can address all those gaps, and get systems and institutions talking to each other and all using the same risk assessment and all on the same page, then we can provide a lot more safety for women."

The groups will formally make their request to city council in a deputation on Sept. 25.

However, a presentation has already been made to the city's community safety and well-being committee, and O'Reilly said it went well.

"We had unanimous support from them to bring it forward," she said. "Those are all leaders in Thunder Bay from different sectors, and so we assume that that leadership is going to be reflected by city council."