Newly elected Toronto mayor Olivia Chow waves to the crowd at council chambers during her Declaration of Office Ceremony, at Toronto City Hall on July 12.Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow will be asking council to declare gender-based and intimate partner violence an epidemic in Canada’s largest city as one of her first acts since taking office.
In a report published Friday morning as part of the agenda for next week’s council meeting, Ms. Chow also recommends councillors urge the provincial and federal governments to make the same declaration. The proposal is one of first motions to council since she won last month’s municipal by-election and formally took office earlier this week.
The Ontario government announced last month that it would not make such a declaration, which was the first of 86 recommendations issued last year after a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of three women murdered by a mutual ex-partner in eastern Ontario.
Carol Culleton, Nathalie Warmerdam and Anastasia Kuzyk were killed at their homes during a shooting rampage in Renfrew County in September, 2015. Their killer, Basil Bortuski, had a long history of violence against women and was on probation at the time of the murders. He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.
Addressing violence against women has long been a top priority for Ms. Chow, who has spoken and written about growing up with it in her family. Ms. Chow’s mother moved in with her in a small apartment after being badly beaten one night by her father.
“She was able to rebuild and start the next chapter of her life because she had me to support her, a safe and affordable place made all the difference for me and my mom. So many women in our city don’t have that,” she wrote.
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Ms. Chow is also calling on governments to take action on the other recommendations made by the inquest jury, including enhanced education in schools, better funding for support resources and exploration of reforms in the justice system. This could include adding the term femicide, the intentional killing of women and girls, to the Criminal Code. Femicide is recognized in criminal legislation in 22 other countries.
In the motion, Ms. Chow said violence against women has been increasing and the city must do everything in its power to take action and encourage other levels of government to follow suit. Although declaring an epidemic is largely symbolic, she is also asking city staff to come up with tangible plans and make “meaningful investments” to programs and services that help prevent this type of violence.
Toronto passed a motion in 2021 to implement a community safety plan to address this type of violence as part of the SafeTO strategy and also established a gender equity office.
The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Homes said in a report last month that there have been nine femicides in Toronto this year, including three in May. A woman is killed by a current or former intimate partner every six days in the country, according to Statistics Canada.
If approved by council, Toronto would join more than 30 municipalities in Ontario that have already declared the issue an epidemic, including Ottawa and Renfrew County, as well as Peel, Durham and Halton Regions.
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Erin Lee, executive director of the Lanark County Interval House that provides shelter for women and children fleeing partner violence, said she commends Ms. Chow’s willingness to actively address this issue during her first few days in office. She said she is “hopeful and optimistic” that city council approves the motion and that it triggers the province to reconsider its response to the recommendations, which she called disappointing.
“I think it’s going to apply some really strong pressure on the province to make some different decisions,” she said. “The importance of making the declaration is to recognize and to honour the many hundreds of lives that have been taken at the hands of intimate partner violence.”
In addition to not declaring an epidemic, the province rejected proposals to create an independent Intimate Partner Violence Commission and a committee to ensure the recommendations are implemented. It accepted most of the other recommendations, in full or in part.
The federal government previously told The Globe it is reviewing the recommendations made to it by the jury and will respond by mid-August.
Dustin Cook