Most Windsor-Essex municipalities declare intimate partner violence epidemic

Intimate partner violence is at a staggering level in Windsor-Essex and a growing number of area municipalities are recognizing that reality by declaring it an epidemic.

Forty communities in Ontario have joined the growing chorus of towns and cities recognizing the grim statistics.

In 2022, Windsor Police Service reported 2,378 calls to police for intimate partner violence (IPV), and some believe that’s the definition of an epidemic.

“It does meet the criteria for an epidemic in terms of the impact that it has on our social systems,” said Sylvie Guenther, the executive director of The Hiatus House in Windsor.

According to the Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee of Windsor Essex, 44 per cent of Canadian women have experienced IPV in their lifetimes.

In Ontario, 52 women were killed by their current or former intimate partners between November 2021 and November 2022.

Since October 2021, there were four femicides in Windsor-Essex.

“That’s four too many,” said Guenther, who sits on the committee which has been going from municipality to municipality asking them to declare the issue an epidemic.

Essex County Council is next on that list Wednesday night.

Hiatus House is looking to build transitional housing with 40 rooms across the street from its current location to help transition women and children out of the emergency shelter and towards a better pathway to recovery. The price tag for that project is estimated at $20 million.

“Being able to draw the awareness to this will help us increase our funding that then helps us deliver the services for people who need the support,” Guenther said, adding more support is needed.

There were 53 women turned away from the Hiatus House in the last year, she said.

“We don't have enough spaces to meet the demand. So we turn people away,” said Guenther.

In June 2022, an inquest was held for the 2015 deaths of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie Warmerdam of Renfrew County. The three women were murdered by their former partners.

The inquest jury made 86 recommendations for action and the first jury recommendation was for the province to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.

The province has accepted some recommendations but rejected the ‘epidemic’ label.

“An epidemic is defined as an infectious or communicable disease and while this is a serious issue, it’s not contagious from mere contact, it is a learned behaviour,” said Windsor-Tecumseh Progressive Conservative MPP Andrew Dowie.

But he’s engaging on the issue, consulting with Essex County Council ahead of a meeting where they’ll be asked to make the same declaration.

Instead, the county has come up with tangible recommendations to keep vulnerable women out of harm’s way.

“They’re not making a statement and moving on, rather, they're identifying real actions that will help to address the seriousness of the intimate partner violence,” Dowie said.

Dowie added the province is willing to work with municipalities to provide support systems and ultimately funding to lead to a reduction in intimate partner violence.