On December 6: OCRCC stands in solidarity with those affected by gender-based violence
On December 6, Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) stands in solidarity with those affected by gender-based violence: Despite high femicide rates and court stays in gender-based violence cases, Ontario government still won’t back bill listing partner violence an epidemic
On December 6, 1989, a gunman killed 14 women at Montreal’s École Polytechnique, before killing himself. In the suicide note he left on his body, he described his rage against women and identified their pursuit of social equality as the event that singularly “ruined his life.”
Violence can affect anyone—but the events of December 6, 1989 made clear that violent victimization is often gendered. The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that kicks off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. It includes commemorating December 6.
Unfortunately, we still need the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence today.
Gender-based violence remains a serious reality in Ontario
The Ontario Association of Interval Houses (OAITH) released its 2023-2024 Annual Femicide List in November 2024. Over the last 52 weeks, there have been 62 women and children killed. Media reported 92 charges laid against 53 men accused in relation to these femicides; another 15 cases were deemed a femicide-suicide. Notably, 89% of all of the 62 femicide cases this year occurred either inside, or outside of a residence[1], pointing to the too-common reality that those who lose their lives to femicide are most often killed by a close known offender such as a partner, ex-partner, family member or acquaintance.
Marlene Ham of OAITH said: “If the headlines feel relentless, it’s because they are. Women and children in Ontario are being killed at an alarming rate – more than once a week this past year alone.”
Sexual violence also remains a highly gendered crime: in Canada, the rate of sexual assault victimization (self-reported) is 50 per 1,000 for women, and 9 per 1,000 for men[2]. TransPulse found that Trans, gender-diverse and non-binary people, in addition, the targets of specifically directed violence, with 20% having been physically or sexually assaulted[3]. At these rates, this would make the total number of sexual violence survivors in Ontario one in four people, or approximately 3,000,000[4].
Sexual violence and femicide affects different people differently. While the femicide and sexual violence rates in Ontario overall are appalling, First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people are at even greater risk of being targeted. A Canadian national inquiry found that Indigenous women and girls are 16 times more likely to be slain or to disappear than white women[5]. Today, Indigenous women in Canada are also three times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be violently or sexually assaulted[6].
There’s little justice for gender-based violence survivors in Ontario
One way to address gender-based violence is through a responsive criminal justice system. But right now, there’s little justice for gender-based violence survivors. In Ontario, we are going backwards.
In recent years, gender-based violence cases have increasingly stalled in the legal system in Ontario due to judge shortages, court delays[7], and Crown delays[8]. Criminal justice cases that have been ‘stayed’ or ‘thrown out’ in Ontario have affected adults, youth and children who reported sexual violence, as well as victims of intimate partner violence, stalking and survivors of human trafficking. The problem is getting worse instead of better. A November 2024 investigation revealed that:
“The majority of criminal cases in the province have ended with charges being withdrawn, stayed, dismissed or discharged before a decision at trial since 2020. In 2022-23, the latest fiscal year of data available, 56 per cent of criminal cases ended that way—a 14 per cent increase since 2013-14, when guilty decisions still made up most outcomes”[9].
Resources allocated to the criminal justice system in the last year have not made a dent in this issue. In May 2024, following public discontent concerning court cases ending in stays, the government provided yet another $29 million+ to appoint at least 25 new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice (OCJ) and hired 190 more Crown prosecutors, victim support and court staff. Nonetheless, the situation of court stays in Ontario have only gotten worse.
Comparatively, community-based services for gender-based violence saw: $2 million to partner abuse response, a $6.9 million investment over three years to enhance economic opportunities for women, $6.5 million to help women and children who have experienced violence or human trafficking, and $18.7 million as part of a time-limited National Action Plan to address gender-based violence[10].
The World Health Organization lists weak legal sanctions as factors associated with both intimate partner and sexual violence[11] prevalence. Support for survivors of violence is also key.
What are we waiting for?
Despite rising femicide and court stagnation in sexual assault cases, the Ontario Government still won’t back a bill listing partner violence an epidemic.
In the past week, a bill was tabled to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic: in response, the Progressive Conservative government held back on declaring it, or taking any other real action at this time.
Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) stands in solidarity with those affected by all forms of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence, femicide[12] and sexual violence. To address gender-based violence, we believe that all levels of government must prioritize prevention and response, and increase resources to address the needs of those experiencing violence.
Fartumo Kusow, who lost her daughter to gender-based violence, said in support of declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic:
“Declaring intimate partner violence as epidemic is not merely a symbolic act, it’s a critical step toward the mobilizing a comprehensive and coordinated effort to address it’s root cause, support survivors and hold perpetrators accountable”[13].
What can any of us do to help end gender-based violence?
We all have a role in addressing gender-based violence. You can:
- Learn more about violence and its root causes
- Interrupt victim-blaming and other discriminatory language when you hear it
- Learn about resources for people affected by violence
- Be supportive and believe women, girls and gender-diverse people who talk about their experiences of discrimination or violence
- Resist gender stereotyping and gender role expectations; these have negative impacts on all of us
- Push back against racial stereotyping and discriminatory attitudes
- Remember that violence is a choice, and it is preventable
- Be a good bystander: Learn how to safely intervene to support survivors, and prevent gender-based, including transphobic, violence (the Draw the Line campaign is a good resource for this)
- Support local gender-based violence support organizations, including Ontario sexual assault centres and community-based shelters for survivors of gender-based violence in Ontario
- Support your local Indigenous organization supporting women, girls and gender diverse people
- Push for sustainable, adequate funding for these organizations.
What can government leaders in Ontario do to help end gender-based violence?
- Declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. Then follow the declaration with targeted resources for community-based intimate partner violence and sexual violence prevention and support. Much work by gender-based violence organizations exists in communities, but is vastly under-resourced.
- Build on and invest in existing prevention and support work, such as existing shelters, shelter-based transitional support programming, sexual assault centres and other community-based services. Government dollars are too-often allocated to new work or time-limited projects. This translates into inadequate resources and service limitations for survivors of violence, particularly limited-term services addressing the needs of young, Indigenous, racialized or other marginalized populations of survivors—who are often the subjects of project and pilot work.
- Provide resources to Indigenous organizations supporting women, girls and gender diverse people. Engage Indigenous leaders and community members for input in planning for supports for Indigenous survivors. On addressing gendered violence against Indigenous women, the Native Women’s Association of Canada notes: “There can be no more aspirational documents…The next steps must be concrete, actionable, costed, and quickly put into effect”[14].
- Always invest in community-based programs that help survivors of violence. Not all cases of intimate partner violence come to the attention of police. Sexual assault, in addition, has the lowest rate of reporting to police amongst all violent crimes[15]. The bottom line is this: investment in gender-based violence services that are situated in criminal justice services will only reach a minority of survivors.
Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) is a network of community-based sexual assault centres in Ontario. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, get help here.
Additional resources:
- Read OCRCC’s response to violence against Indigenous women here
- Read the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls here
- Read more about stays in Ontario courts here
- Many communities in Ontario have declared gender-based violence an epidemic (see the map of communities here)
[1] Ontario Association of Interval Houses (OAITH). November 2024. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Annual Femicide List: 62 Lives Taken: By Men’s Violence
[2] Cotter, A., for Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics. Release date: August 25, 2021. Criminal victimization in Canada, 2019.
[3] Bauer, Greta & Scheim, Ayden. (2015). Transgender People in Ontario, Canada: Statistics from the Trans PULSE Project to Inform Human Rights Policy: 4.
[4] Sexual violence trends in Canada estimate that 1 in 4 (or 25%) have experienced sexual violence. How this was calculated based on available Canadian statistics: Average rate of sexual violence: per-gender statistics thanks to Statistics Canada and TransPulse research. All genders, calculated via this method: 1/20 women + 1/111 men + 1/5 transgender and non-binary people = 115/444. This number totals 0.259 persons, or approximately 1 in 4 people (0.25 persons).
[5] National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). Report released June 2019.
[6] Native Women’s Association of Canada. 2021. NWAC ’s Action Plan to End the Attack Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender-Diverse People: 5.
[7] Burke, Ashley for CBC News. Sep 11, 2023. Retired corporal says she’s lost faith in the justice system after sex assault charge stayed.
[8] King, Angela for CBC. Nov 27, 2023. Double-booked courtroom, Crown delays lead to Ontario sex assault case being thrown out
University of Toronto student says justice system failed her
[9] Brockbank, Nicole and Sarah MacMillan for CBC News. Nov 12, 2024. Most criminal cases in Ontario now ending before charges are tested at trial: More judges, staff, prosecutors and courtrooms needed, says Crown attorneys’ association
[10] Government of Ontario. Newsroom. Search parameters: Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, timeframe October 2022-May 2024.
[11] World Health Organization (WHO). 25 March 2024. Violence against women
[12] Unlike the gender-neutral terms murder and homicide, the term femicide conveys the motivation behind a killing: in femicide, those that kill are motivated by a sense of a right to do so, or an assumption of ownership over a woman, women and other feminized people: Baker, L., (July 2015). Issue 14: Femicide. Learning Network Brief (29). London, Ontario: Learning Network, Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children. Femicide impacts women, girls and Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, non-binary (2SLGBTQQIA+) people.
[13] Bond, Meredtith for CityNews. April 10, 2024. Ford government to support NDP motion to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic
[14] Native Women’s Association of Canada. 2021. NWAC ’s Action Plan to End the Attack Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and Gender-Diverse People: 4.
[15] Statistics Canada. Released: 2021-08-25. Criminal victimization in Canada, 2019.