Women's safety advocates amplify calls to address intimate partner violence after Walsh family deaths

The community of Harrow and surrounding areas is grappling with the tragic loss of the Walsh family, who were found dead in their home last month — and women's safety advocates say the incident highlights the urgent need to address intimate partner violence (IPV) in the region.

“I'm still reeling from seven months ago losing Janice Madison to IPV, and now we're adding Carly and her beautiful babies to that list as well,” said Lady Laforet, executive director of the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families.

In a statement, OPP said Carly Stannard-Walsh, 13-year-old Madison and 8-year-old Hunter died from gunshot wounds. Steven Walsh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The news has been hard to digest for many in Harrow and the surrounding community.

“At what point are we going to start talking about this and making it well known in our community that this is happening at epidemic proportions,” said Heather Johnson-Dobransky, director of operations at Hiatus House.

She noted that 62 women lost their lives in Ontario last year to IPV — and in the last twelve months, three women in our region have died because of it.

“We get about 4,000 crisis calls a year from women who are calling about domestic violence, but a lot of them are starting off with,, 'I don't know if this is violence,' experiencing some emotional abuse or verbal abuse,” said Johnson-Dobransky, who pointed out that those red flags can lead to guilt and blame.

Once the perpetrator has gained control, she said that violence tends to increase.

“What we've seen in the last couple of years is there's a huge increase in more lethal forms of violence,” said Johnson-Dobransky, who suggested a conversation should be had if you or someone you know is in an unsafe situation. “Maybe it's not happening, but it could be.”

Bill 173 was introduced by Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, requiring the provincial government to recognize IPV as an epidemic.

“It's saying to people that this isn't just something within your home,” Gretzky said. “This is something that's happening to other people in our community and hopefully people will come forward and they'll talk to other survivors.”

Laforet backs the bill.

“We all should be really looking at Bill 173 with the standing committee right now and seeing that it's beyond declaring it an epidemic. It already has been for a decade,” said Laforet

With the threat of an election, Gretzky said she fears the bill, which has gone through two readings, may get dropped.

She said that her bill doesn't need to get passed. The government just needs to declare IPV an epidemic.

“They can do that subcommittee work that they're talking about, and make the declaration at the same time. What the declaration does is it tells people who are living in abusive situations, people who are living in that shadow, in that fear, and in that shame that the government sees them.”