Intimate Partner Violence

If you’re a woman living in a rural part of northern Ontario, you are 75 per cent more likely to experience domestic abuse. That’s what a delegation from the YWCA told members of Haliburton County Council recently. Intimate Partner Violence, which includes physical, mental, sexual, and financial abuse is impacting an estimated 2,500 women in the county, according to Statistics Canada. That’s why the delegation asked Haliburton Council to join a growing number of municipalities across Ontario in declaring it an epidemic. The request for the declaration came out of three femicides — gender-based murders against women, which occurred on the same day, nine years ago. On Sept. 22, 2015, three Renfrew women were murdered by a man with whom each had a past relationship. Haliburton County joined 95 other Ontario municipalities in declaring Intimate Partner Violence an epidemic.