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Intimate Partner Violence Is a Crisis of Public Safety

Driven by systemic failures, it requires systemic solutions. We now face an opportunity for change.

Angela Marie MacDougall 31 Jan 2025The Tyee

Angela Marie MacDougall is the executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services Association in Vancouver.

[Editor’s note: This story contains discussion of death involving intimate partner violence.]

Recent headlines across Canada have exposed an unbearable truth: women are being killed because they have nowhere to go.

Consider the death of 33-year-old Calgary elementary school teacher Ania Kaminski who, on the same weekend as her father, was shot to death shortly after Christmas 2024. They are believed to have been murdered by Kaminski’s abusive husband.

Last spring, Tatjana Stefanski of Lumby, B.C., was killed following an alleged abduction by her former partner. These are not isolated incidents but part of a devastating pattern of intimate partner violence that demands urgent, systemic action.

In British Columbia, public safety was a key issue in the recent provincial election campaign, and the provincial government recognized gender-based violence as an epidemic in its mandate letters to the attorney general and cabinet ministers this month.

Ensuring the safety of women and girls is not only a matter of justice but a cornerstone of building secure communities. This cannot be accomplished without collaboration with community organizations that have the expertise to meet survivors’ needs.

Intimate partner violence is a preventable tragedy, yet it continues to devastate lives across the province. The impact of this violence extends beyond individual survivors, affecting families and entire communities.

Particularly in urban centres like Metro Vancouver and rural areas of B.C., challenges are compounded by diverse, complex needs. The statistics — women murdered by intimate partners and countless others injured or traumatized — make it clear: this is a crisis of public safety and public health.

An epidemic driven by systemic failures

Violence against women does not occur in a vacuum. It is perpetuated by systemic failures that shield perpetrators and create barriers for survivors seeking safety. These failures include ineffective enforcement of protection orders, inadequate legal and social support, and a lack of safe, affordable housing.

Together, these gaps embolden abusers and leave survivors with few options to escape violence.

When public systems fail to protect women, the responsibility lies with policymakers to enact meaningful change.

The housing crisis highlights this systemic failure. Without access to safe housing, many women are forced into impossible choices — living in cars, couch surfing or, heartbreakingly, returning to abusive partners.

This lack of options is not just a logistical challenge; it’s a direct threat to their lives. When women are left unprotected, the ripple effects are catastrophic. Children are exposed to violence, police and emergency services are drawn into preventable crises, and lives are tragically lost.

The economic costs of intimate partner violence in B.C. are staggering — estimated at $1.7 billion in tangible costs annually in health care, policing, justice, social services and lost productivity. Yet the human cost is immeasurable. Each death, injury and trauma suffered by survivors and their families underscores the province’s failure to act decisively.

A critical opportunity for change

Addressing IPV requires more than symbolic gestures. It demands a robust public safety framework that addresses the root causes of violence, delivers survivor-centred services and ensures women can escape abuse and rebuild their lives.

Premier David Eby and his cabinet have a critical opportunity to lead this change by partnering with community organizations and investing in solutions that work.

Community organizations play a pivotal role in preventing IPV and supporting survivors, yet they are often underfunded and overburdened.

The government must collaborate with these organizations to strengthen responses, build trust and deliver culturally appropriate support that meets survivors’ needs. These partnerships are vital for effective and sustainable change.

To address IPV comprehensively, the province must take key actions:

Not a private matter

For too long, IPV has been treated as a private matter rather than the systemic failure it is. This framing is dangerous and misguided. IPV is not a series of isolated tragedies — it reflects deep social inequities and systemic neglect.

The policy gaps that allow IPV to persist and escalate into femicide are failures of public systems. It is time to stop shielding perpetrators through inaction and instead address the systemic factors that embolden them.

Since 2019, not only has B.C. lost ground on the equity gains achieved prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns, but misogynistic ideas have also flourished, further eroding progress and increasing vulnerability to femicide.

Women are being killed because the systems meant to protect them have failed. This grim reality is not inevitable; it can and must change.

If B.C. is serious about creating safe communities, addressing IPV must be central to its public safety strategy.

Expanding housing supports, reforming justice systems, partnering with community organizations and prioritizing prevention are not optional — they are essential.

The lives of countless women depend on collective action. It is time for B.C. to rise to the challenge and ensure the safety of women and girls as a fundamental part of its public safety agenda.  [Tyee]

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