Councillor Angela Caputo, who moved the unanimously adopted Sault Ste. Marie motion, has a message for this House after their recent and heartbreaking mass murder-suicide: “I ask Premier Ford to reconsider the stance”—of his government. “Angie Sweeney deserved better. Those three innocent children deserved better. Women in this province deserve better.”

Speaker, on Monday, we were absolutely shocked to hear the Solicitor General dismiss the top recommendation from the Renfrew inquest as an empty gesture of symbolism.

My question to the Premier is, will he join the 63 municipalities that have already adopted similar motions by substantially declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic and committing the necessary resources to keep women and children safe in Ontario?

Interjections.

Last week, on October 23, four people, including three children aged six, seven and 12, were fatally shot in Sault Ste. Marie. Police are calling the shootings a result of intimate partner violence. The Premier called the news “gut-wrenching,” but his words ring hollow when he refuses to even act on the first recommendation of the Renfrew inquest, which is to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.

I’ll give the Premier one more chance today to stand with survivors. Will the Premier support cities and their public health officials by finally declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic?

Speaker, we need to talk about how intimate partner violence harms and kills children as they live with their mothers. On average, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every six days in Canada, and as of September 30, there have been 46 femicides in Ontario alone, and that number has now become higher. The Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative has found at least 30 children are killed annually in Canada by one of their parents.

Speaker, the clock is running out. When will the Premier finally take action to protect children and their mothers by declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic?

Interjections.

Since June 2022, front-line advocates have reached out to this government about the Renfrew recommendations. This is arising from the 2015 triple femicide, and included an implementation committee to make sure that all recommendations there would actually be carried forward to end intimate partner violence. Those requests have gone unanswered.

Again to the Premier: Yes or no, will this government use its political voice and commit to, today, the number one recommendation from that inquest and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic?

A question to the Premier: During the Renfrew inquest, the jury was clear that significant change needs to happen in the way Ontario provides treatment to those who perpetuate intimate partner violence, but Ontario has not responded to this recommendation. International Women’s Day is fast approaching. How many more women will have to suffer preventable violence and death at the hands of perpetuators before Ontario will make meaningful changes in the system that’s supposed to protect them?

Can the government explain how many times it has been warned about the inadequacy of the services they provide perpetuators of intimate partner violence and why this government won’t actually fix it today? When will we get a commitment? When will you fix this?

Chosen families are made up of individuals who may not be biologically related to one another. These families are especially important to the 2SLGBTQI+ community. For individuals who have been rejected by their biological families, chosen families are picked instead of assigned, providing each individual the freedom to choose who they want to be understood and loved by. Chosen families help to impart a sense of acceptance and belonging in 2SLGBTQI+ communities. Chosen Family Day, held on February 22 of each year, celebrates the importance of such a day for the chosen families they belong to.

Mr. Coe moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 65, An Act to amend the Remembrance Week Act, 2016 / Projet de loi 65, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2016 sur la semaine du Souvenir.

I, too, would like to recognize all the trustees who are here from the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and, in particular, I’d like to say a special welcome to Deborah Williams, the newly elected TDSB trustee for Toronto Centre, my own home riding, and, of course, Jaine Klassen Jeninga, vice-chair of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board and representative for the township of Alnwick/Haldimand, town of Cobourg, township of Hamilton and municipality of Trent Hills. Welcome.