The provincial government is supporting an opposition bill to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in Ontario, and service providers in Windsor are happy to hear it.
Government House Leader Paul Calandra said the Progressive Conservatives will ask the justice committee to thoroughly examine intimate partner violence and return with recommendations.
The New Democrats tabled a bill that simply declares intimate partner violence an epidemic, led by Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky.
The Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act 2024 passed second reading on Wednesday and will now go before a committee.
Last June, the province rejected calls from an inquest into the deaths of three women at the hands of their former partner to formally declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.
The jury at a coroner's inquest into the 2015 deaths three women in Renfrew County made that recommendation one year ago Wednesday, along with 85 others aimed at preventing similar tragedies.
Director of Operations at Hiatus House, Heather Johnson-Dobransky, was in Toronto on Wednesday for the introduction of Bill 173.
She joined AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides to say they're really hoping this is the start of making a positive change to tackle IPV.
"We don't talk about this enough right? We all know somebody or someone who has experience intimate partner violence. Having this become a bill is very important for us because we all need to start talking about it. So if anything it's going to open up those conversations about what this means to everybody," she said.
Johnson-Dobransky says she has worked at Hiatus House for 19 years and in that time she's seen too many examples of women who don't know where to go and end up living with violence in their lives.
"I will say over the last five years especially, there are more lethal forms of violence, that's what we're seeing. So women are coming in and there's a lot more physical assaults and like I said deadly means of violence."
She says so long as the government is on board and willing to allow the bill to move forward they're OK with recommendations being brought back after it goes to committee.
"You know what, we're always OK with recommendations. As a community we sit down, we have our Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee Windsor Essex, where we talk about recommendations as well. So we're OK with the recommendations, we'll look at them, but we're here to provide our feedback as well," Johnson-Dobransky said.
Nearly 100 municipalities in the province have declared IPV an epidemic since last summer, including Windsor, Tecumseh, Essex, Lakeshore, Kingsville and Amherstburg.
- with files from AM800's The Shift