Frustration is being expressed over a delay in the provincial government declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic in Ontario.
Ontario New Democrat Leader, Marit Stiles, and Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky both expressed their frustration on the issue Wednesday ahead of a roundtable discussion about intimate partner violence held at Mackenzie Hall in Windsor.
In early April, the Progressive Conservative government supported a bill led by Gretzky that simply declared intimate partner violence an epidemic in Ontario but stopped short of actually declaring it an epidemic.
Instead, the Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act 2024 passed second reading, and the government asked the justice committee to thoroughly examine intimate partner violence and return with recommendations.
"The subcommittee that they say they're referring it to, there are still no parameters around that committee as far as when they're going to meet, who they're going to meet, or how long that's going to take before it comes back to the house," she says. "We have asked for them to sever my bill from that study and make the declaration; they refuse to do that."
The legislature rose for the summer break on June 6 and will not resume sitting until Oct. 21, 2024.
NDP Leader Stiles says we know what needs to be done and the government should be taking action today.
"We were happily surprised that they agreed to support the bill at that second reading. Unfortunately, that's kind of where it ended. The government, a couple of weeks ago, as you know, decided to go off on a 19-week vacation," she says.
Gretzky says declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic acknowledges that it is a public health crisis, so we can start making changes.
"In order to make it safer for women in this province, especially those who are fleeing violence, and their children. So I think that is what the holdup is with the government—that they realize if they say the words and acknowledge it's a thing, they have to take some ownership of that and some responsibility, and they have to take action and put funding behind those actions," she says.
According to Windsor police, during the first five months of 2024, the service has received more than 1,200 calls related to intimate partner violence. Of those calls, 600 didn't result in charges, but 646 calls did.
Nearly 100 municipalities across the province have declared IPV an epidemic, including Windsor, Tecumseh, Essex, Lakeshore, Kingsville, and Amherstburg.