domestic violence

Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke NDP MP Randall Garrison (Black Press Media file photo)

B.C. MP says law needed to thwart shadow pandemic of intimate partner violence

Randall Garrison calls for coercive and controlling behaviour to be criminalized

Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke NDP MP Randall Garrison (Black Press Media file photo)
Alberta’s provincial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday, July 6, 2020. Alberta is the second province to bring in a law that could help people at risk of domestic violence learn about an intimate partner’s criminal record. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Alberta brings in Clare’s Law to allow access to intimate partner’s violent history

The law originated in the U.K. and is named after Clare Wood, a woman who was murdered in 2009 by a partner

Alberta’s provincial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday, July 6, 2020. Alberta is the second province to bring in a law that could help people at risk of domestic violence learn about an intimate partner’s criminal record. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
People participate in the annual Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver, B.C., Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic did not stop a rising tide of reports of domestic violence, experts say, warning that the stress of life in lockdown continues to put victims at risk. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Reports of domestic, intimate partner violence continue to rise during pandemic

Call volumes spiked almost immediately when swaths of Canada first locked down

People participate in the annual Women’s Memorial March in Vancouver, B.C., Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic did not stop a rising tide of reports of domestic violence, experts say, warning that the stress of life in lockdown continues to put victims at risk. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A staff member carries bedding in one of the suites at Toronto’s Interval House, an emergency shelter for women in abusive situations, on Monday February 6, 2017. A new national survey by Women’s Shelters Canada offers a glimpse into the experiences of front-line workers and women fleeing violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, with reports of clients facing more violence that is also increasing in severity. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Canada-wide survey of women’s shelters shows abuse more severe during pandemic

Shelters also noted an increase and escalation in physical violence

A staff member carries bedding in one of the suites at Toronto’s Interval House, an emergency shelter for women in abusive situations, on Monday February 6, 2017. A new national survey by Women’s Shelters Canada offers a glimpse into the experiences of front-line workers and women fleeing violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, with reports of clients facing more violence that is also increasing in severity. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services, poses for a photograph in Vancouver, on Tuesday, October 13, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

‘It’s like a pressure cooker in the house:’ Calls to helplines in Canada jump in pandemic

Calls tripled in the spring in B.C. before levelling off in the summer

Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services, poses for a photograph in Vancouver, on Tuesday, October 13, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Randall Garrison

Federal NDP looks to criminalize domestic emotional abuse with new law

MP Randall Garrison introduces private member’s bill

Randall Garrison
Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development Maryam Monsef arrives on Parliament Hill during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Feds double COVID-19 fund for abused women to $100 million

Data shows that one in 10 women is very or extremely concerned about possibility of violence during pandemic

Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development Maryam Monsef arrives on Parliament Hill during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The Atlantic Denture Clinic is guarded by police in Dartmouth, N.S. on Monday, April 20, 2020. The repeated threats and isolation a Nova Scotia mass shooter allegedly used against his spouse show why such cruelty should be a criminal offence in Canada, experts on domestic violence say. Acquaintances and former neighbours have described the 51-year-old killer as a clever and manipulative millionaire who would threaten harm to his spouse’s family, control her money or cut off her means of escape by removing the tires from her car or blocking the driveway. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

How Nova Scotia mass shooting could bring law that makes abusers’ tactics a crime

A gunman killed 22 people in a multi-hour shooting spree

The Atlantic Denture Clinic is guarded by police in Dartmouth, N.S. on Monday, April 20, 2020. The repeated threats and isolation a Nova Scotia mass shooter allegedly used against his spouse show why such cruelty should be a criminal offence in Canada, experts on domestic violence say. Acquaintances and former neighbours have described the 51-year-old killer as a clever and manipulative millionaire who would threaten harm to his spouse’s family, control her money or cut off her means of escape by removing the tires from her car or blocking the driveway. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
A woman pays her respects at a roadside memorial on Portapique Road in Portapique, N.S. on Friday, April 24, 2020. At least 22 people are dead after a man, who at one point wore a police uniform and drove a mock-up cruiser, went on a murder rampage in Portapique and several other Nova Scotia communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Nova Scotia mass murder shows the public threat of domestic violence, say experts

The agency recorded 945 intimate partner homicides between 2008 and 2018

A woman pays her respects at a roadside memorial on Portapique Road in Portapique, N.S. on Friday, April 24, 2020. At least 22 people are dead after a man, who at one point wore a police uniform and drove a mock-up cruiser, went on a murder rampage in Portapique and several other Nova Scotia communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan