TORONTO, ON – WomanACT stands with community advocates to call for the Ontario government to take decisive action by passing Bill 173, formally declaring Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) an epidemic. As the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign begins today, highlighting the urgent need to address IPV as a preventable public health and safety crisis.
“Intimate Partner Violence is an epidemic, but it is preventable,” says Harmy Mendoza, Executive Director of WomanACT.
The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that there is one. Bill 173 is a unified call “from frontline services providers…community organizations, and most notably survivors of IPV themselves,” she says.
The 2022 Coroner’s Inquest into the triple femicide of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie Warmerdam called for Ontario to “Formally declare intimate partner violence an epidemic”. Building on the advocacy efforts of the anti-violence sector, 95 municipalities across Ontario have formally declared IPV an epidemic. Ontario needs to do the same.
Recent data highlights the magnitude of the crisis: as of this year, the Toronto Police Service has reported 15,210 IPV-related incidents, marking a 1.39% increase from the previous year. The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH) reported 59 femicides in the month of October for 2024 alone.
WomanACT’s “Bill 173 – The Current State of Intimate Partner Violence in Ontario” resource package directed to Premier Doug Ford and other Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) includes evidence-based recommendations and a joint letter endorsed by eighty-three organizations and individuals from sectors including anti-violence, health, homelessness, legal services, and Indigenous communities.
How can you engage as a community member?
Over the next 16 Days of Activism, individuals and organizations across Canada will unite in action to end Gender-Based Violence. Contact your MPPs using Bill-173 Community Mobilization Letter Writing Campaign to share how IPV has affected you, families, or the community. Together, we can amplify survivors’ voices, push for systemic change, and demand meaningful action to end IPV —today and every day.
For more information, please contact:
Aakanksha Mathur
Manager of Public Policy, Advocacy and Communications, WomanACT
amathur@womanact.ca
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