Walking to end an epidemic: Intimate partner violence deaths spike

Advocates are calling femicide an epidemic in Ontario, as the province reports 37 deaths in 2024.

“This is part of an epidemic, there aren’t signs to necessarily recognize this and there has to be a societal shift,” said Hayley Macdonald, acting executive director, of Huronia Transition Homes.

A shift that Macdonald says is needed to save lives and stop a tragic trend.

“When we are looking at femicide that every day it is a consideration for women when they wake up if whether or not they are going to be safe, there has to be change that happens so that this is no longer a reality,” said Macdonald.

The latest statistics from the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Homes uncover just how bad the trend has become.

In 2019 the province reported 37 femicide deaths, in 2022 there were 58, 2021 sits at 53 and in 2022 a total of 63 women were killed.

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“We can blame that on covid but the situation isn’t getting any better more women seem to get hurt and more women are losing their lives," said Teresa Maclennan, executive director, of the Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie.

In July alone two women under the age of 25 were killed in Ontario due to intimate partner violence.

In Midland, 23-year-old Julia Brady was found dead inside an apartment complex while in London 17-year-old Breanna Broadfoot was stabbed to death... their families wanted answers.

On Monday, a memorial walk was held in Midland to honor both women and the women before them whose lives were more than a statistic.

Advocates say they are not giving up hope when it comes to putting and to femicide cases throughout the province - and say they continue to push for bill 173 to be passed which would acknowledge intimate partner violence as an epidemic.