Last week’s triple homicide near McCreary has returned the spotlight to Manitoba’s escalating rate of intimate partner violence, which has been described as an epidemic by women’s advocates.
Deena Brock, provincial co-ordinator of the Manitoba Association of Women’s Shelters, fears the situation will get worse unless there are co-ordinated and sustained efforts to prevent violence and support survivors.
“I would definitely say it’s an epidemic,” said Brock. “It’s getting worse, and something needs to be done.”
NIC ADAM / FREE PRESS FILES
Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said the province is signed on to Women and Gender Equality Canada’s 10-year national action plan to support survivors and front-line workers.
The association is among the groups or individual advocates to call for more resources and ask the Manitoba government to consider declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic.
RCMP on Wednesday described the killings in McCreary as a “horrific act of intimate partner violence.”
They said a 41-year-old man shot and killed his former partner’s parents and brother, after the 37-year-old woman escaped into the woods and hid early Friday. The man then fatally shot himself on a rural road.
“It’s devastating to hear something so tragic in the lives of so many people,” said Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, who is responsible for women and gender equity. “I can’t even imagine what (the 37-year-old woman) is going through right now, and what she’s telling her children.”
The homicides happened six months after a 30-year-old Carman mother, her three young children and her teenage cousin were slain. The woman’s common-law partner is charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
Manitoba had the second-highest rates of police-reported intimate partner and family violence among Canadian provinces in 2022, according to Statistics Canada data.
Manitoba’s intimate partner violence rate was 633 victims per 100,000 people, up from 476 in 2014. The province’s family violence rate increased to 585 in 2022 from 453 in 2014.
Only Saskatchewan had higher rates. Data for 2023 are not yet available.
Nationally, the rate of intimate partner violence was more than three times higher among women and girls than men and boys.
Fontaine said the NDP government is committed to eradicating gender-based violence. She said the province is signed on to Women and Gender Equality Canada’s 10-year national action plan to support survivors and front-line workers.
The provincial and federal governments in July announced $12 million in funding for 19 community initiatives across Manitoba. Some are programs for men and boys.
“I would definitely say it’s an epidemic. It’s getting worse, and something needs to be done.”–Deena Brock
Manitoba is preparing a bill similar to one in England, known as Clare’s Law, that would help people find out whether their partner has a history of domestic or sexual violence.
The province announced funding to provide housing for gender-based violence survivors earlier this year.
Fontaine said the government is discussing requests to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.
“Infrastructure and resources” must be in place to support such a declaration, the minister added.
Fontaine said the province is also in early discussions about whether to re-establish the Manitoba Domestic Violence Death Review Committee.
In Ottawa, a Senate committee is considering a private member’s bill that calls for a legislated national strategy to prevent intimate partner violence.
Brock said a strategic plan that includes more front-line resources and supports, additional shelter spaces, shorter waits for mental health, housing or other services, and greater public education and awareness efforts is needed.
Recently, shelters in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba have been “very full,” she said.
Brock also cited a need for additional supports for children of domestic violence victims.
“They’re often mentored by the abuser to become abusers,” she said.
Brock said she thinks the Manitoba government is making a concerted effort to address the problem. She said there is room for collaboration between agencies or providers involved in the different stages of support for survivors.
“It’s devastating to hear something so tragic in the lives of so many people.”–Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine
In the McCreary-area incident, the killer’s former partner was granted a protection order in November. Two guns and ammunition were taken from him at the time, RCMP confirmed.
Brock said protection orders will not stop people who are intent on causing harm.
“They are a tool from a legal aspect,” she said.
A recent policy brief prepared for MPs said the true number of people who experience intimate partner violence is underreported, as many do not go to police.
The brief cited a 2019 study that found, on average, a woman is murdered by an intimate partner every six days in Canada.
The brief said more services are needed to prevent violence and provide wrap-around services to survivors.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching
Reporter
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.