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As the COVID-19 pandemic maintains its grip on Canada and the world, experts say a “shadow epidemic” of violence against women has intensified.
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“In times of crisis, the number of women being abused rises and we see it in the news every day. We see the rise in violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic and recent humanitarian crises, conflicts and, increasingly, in the climate disaster all around the world,” Joachim Ostertag of Violence Prevention Grey Bruce said during a delegation to city council Monday.
“But it’s not the disasters and the crises that lead to violence against women. We’ve known for a long time that the key contributor to male violence against women is gender inequality and the pandemic has significantly increased inequality and an explosion of violence against women. And this is what we call these days ‘disaster patriarchy.’ ”
He said the World Health Organization has called violence against women a “shadow epidemic” that people “must seriously take action on.”
Ostertag appeared before council to speak about the upcoming National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6.
He invited council and community members to attend a vigil, planned for noon that day in front of Owen Sound city hall.
The event, which is being organized by several local agencies, including Violence Prevention Grey Bruce, will recognize the national day and commemorate the 14 women who were killed 32 years ago — on Dec. 6, 1989 — by a lone gunman at École Polytechnique in Montreal.
During his delegation, Ostertag read aloud the names of each of those women, who were murdered because of their gender, and asked council and staff to join him in a moment of silence.
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Council then voted to lower to half-mast all flags at city facilities and parks on Dec. 6 to mark the day.
The commemoration date was established by Canadian Parliament in 1991 to coincide with the anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre.
Ostertag told council that more than one in four women in Canada has experienced psychological, physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner.
The rate of violence against Indigenous women is three to five times higher than against non-Indigenous women, he said.
Ostertag said 160 women were killed in Canada in 2020 in acts of femicide. Ninety-two women and girls in Canada were murdered in the first six months of 2021, he said, compared to 32 in the first half of 2019 — before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Locally, Owen Sound Police Chief Craig Ambrose said Tuesday there was a marked increase in the number of domestic violence incidents that police both responded to and laid charges at in the city in 2020, compared to 2019.
In the first 10 months of 2019, city police attended 29 domestic violence-related incidents where charges were laid. That number jumped to 40 for the first 10 months of 2020, but has appeared to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, with police responding to 22 domestic incidents where charges were laid.
Carrie Stevenson, a co-organizer of the Owen Sound vigil and communications manager at The Women’s Centre Grey Bruce, the organization has seen an increase in crisis calls throughout the pandemic, with 82 calls received in October 2020 and 101 in the same month this year.
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In-shelter stays were low at the start of the pandemic while women were trapped at home, she said, but picked up as restrictions lifted.
She pointed to an Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses report that shows femicides across Ontario were up by 48 per cent as of September 2020.
“The extra demand for our services speaks to the need for more to be done to end domestic violence,” she said.
“In the meantime, we’re incredibly grateful that our community has been so generous with offers of goods and financial contributions to support women who turn to us for shelter and other programs, like safety planning and counseling.”
For Monday’s vigil, local musician River Breitbach and drummers from the M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre are scheduled to perform before Elder Shirley John offers an opening prayer.
A commemoration to the 1989 victims as well as to women who continue to be impacted by violence will follow.
Vigil co-organizer Bernice Connell of Women’s House Serving Bruce & Grey, said in the news release that the organizing committee hopes that people who are unable to attend the vigil will pause for a moment on Dec. 6 and consider the impact that violence against women plays in the community.
More must be done to end domestic violence, say vigil organizers - Owen Sound Sun Times
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