Peel Region declares intimate partner violence an epidemic, asks Ontario to do the same

Peel Region has declared gender and intimate-partner violence an epidemic and is calling on Ontario to do the same in the hope of legislation that targets family violence.

At a meeting Thursday, the region unanimously voted in favour of the term in an attempt to raise awareness on the issue and more funding to address it.

"What we really need in this declaration of this epidemic is funding for these agencies so that they can be there for the women that need it the most," said Peel regional and Brampton councillor Rowena Santos.

In 2021 alone, Peel police responded to more than 17,000 incidents of family and intimate partner violence, averaging to nearly 45 incidents every day or about two every hour.  Of the cases where charges that were laid, police say 78 per cent of the victims were women.

And advocates say that's just what gets reported. 

While local declarations are a big step forward in recognizing the problem, community victim service providers says they'll need more funding to keep up with current and future demand.

The region is the latest to label the problem an epidemic. Twenty-five other local governments in Ontario have already done so, including Durham Region, the City of Oakville and Halton Region.  According to a motion by the City of Brampton, Toronto has not made the move, though Ottawa has.

Declaring gender-based and intimate partner violence was the first recommendation made by a coroner's jury at last year's Renfrew County inquest that looked into the 2015 murders of three women: Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam. All three women were murdered on the same day by the same man, despite red flags about his potential to inflict further harm.

The region's move comes a day after the municipality of Brampton declared such violence an epidemic within that city. Brampton also asked for provincial and federal funding to support organizations providing victim resources, asked the federal government to coin the term "femicide" in the Criminal Code of Canada and asked it to declare it an epidemic countrywide.

Santos says it was 11-year-old Riya Rajkumar, who died in February 2019, that sparked Brampton council's focus on the issue. Her father was charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death.

More recently in May, 43-year-old mother Davinder Kaur was killed after meeting her estranged husband in a park.  Santos says these cases were top of mind for her and regional councillor Navjit Kaur Brar, who are also the only two women on Brampton city council, when trying to get the motion passed. 

"We've seen what happened with Davinder Kaur, and she left four beautiful children. And how that affects the city of Brampton — it was echoed across the city," said Brar.

"We need to bring tangible action."

Sharon Mayne Devine, the CEO of Catholic Family Services, the lead agency for the Safe Centre of Peel, says the pandemic exacerbated violence against women.