Domestic assault reports in Thunder Bay rise during pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased rates of domestic violence in Thunder Bay, the coordinator of the Northwestern Ontario Women's Centre said.

"The situation wasn't great before," Gwen O'Reilly said. "Now, we have a situation where people's schedules have changed, so people are at home more often."

"Women have more responsibility for children, they're less-likely to have the privacy they need to make a call to either get support, or get help," she said. "You may have more family stress as a result in changes in income, there may be more substance abuse."

O'Reilly said there are fewer people being kept in custody over assault charges, as courts are more reluctant to incarcerate people due to the pandemic, and concerns over the spread of COVID-19.

Thunder Bay police said family violence calls have increased in May and June 2020, compared with 2019.

There were 275 family violence calls in May 2019; in May 2020, police received 364.

Similarly, in June 2019, police responded to 292 family violence calls; that number jumped to 366 in June 2020.

Canada's Department of Justice defines family violence as "any form of abuse, mistreatment or neglect that a child or adult experiences from a family member, or from someone with whom they have an intimate relationship."

O'Reilly said the police numbers aren't necessarily the entire picture.

"What we see is women often don't call the police," she said. "Women often don't feel that calling police increases their safety, especially in the long run."

Someone may be charged by police over a family violence incident, but then not convicted in court.

That, she said, "tends to make them madder, and also releases them from suspicion."

"Many abusers … know how to use police charging policies to get their partners charged, they know how to set child welfare off to use that to their advantage, they know how to use immigration to mess things out for their partners."

O'Reilly said agencies that respond to family violence "are still working full-tilt."

New protocol

"We've continued to have high-risk meetings to address some of these situations," she said. "We try to ensure that risk assessments are done."

O'Reilly said a new draft high-risk protocol has been developed, which can be used by "anyone that responds to violence against women," including shelters, police, child welfare organizations, or counselling agencies.

"It is a tool that is designed to assess characteristics of someone who may use violence, such as coercive control, misogynistic attitudes, a history of violence, issues around mental health and substance use," O'Reilly said. "This tool is more general, and can be used with women … to interview them and help assess their risk from a perpetrator."