The year is 2024 and intimate partner violence, gender-based violence and violence against women is still an epidemic. It is still a public health issue, yet the Conservatives refuse to declare this formally across Ontario in this Legislature. Intimate partner violence and femicide is on the rise. And 68 of the 86 recommendations from the Renfrew inquest fall under provincial jurisdiction and many could easily be implemented by this government. Yet, despite our calls, this government refuses to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.

I stand here again demanding that the Conservative government declare it an epidemic. It is an epidemic that disproportionately impacts women and girls, trans and non-binary people, women with disabilities, Black women, Indigenous women, women experiencing homelessness, underhoused women and immigrant, refugee and non-status women. Violence is socially and economically debilitating. Survivors have spoken and it’s time they listened.

This week, on February 21 and 22, Skills for Change, from my St. Paul’s community, will host our third annual Together Against Violence Symposium, where hundreds of us will gather to talk about solutions to gender-based violence.

Speaker, for over 40 years, they have been doing this work in our community, but I stand here today to say that our community leaders cannot do this alone. The first step to solving a problem is naming it. I beg of this government to name intimate partner violence, name gender-based violence and name violence against women what it is, and that, Speaker, is an epidemic.

My question is to the Premier. Sault Ste. Marie declared gender-based violence an epidemic, adding to more than 63 municipalities across Ontario that have formally declared this truth. To date, 2023 has seen more than 50 femicides, more than one per week, all while this Conservative government continually fails to mobilize the resources—from affordable housing, to pay equity, to community crisis and response funding—needed to reverse this tragic course that Ontario is on.

To the Premier: Will he take the first step to ending gender-based violence by declaring it an epidemic, one requiring real action from this Conservative government?

This would make training on how to style and care for Black, Indigenous and racialized people’s natural and textured hair types mandatory for all practising hairstylists within the sector, to protect the health and safety of performers, boost Ontario’s economy and work toward addressing racism in the province of Ontario.

In short, this bill would prevent the inequity of Black and other racialized performers, already underpaid, having to pay for their own hairstyles on set and backstage. I want to thank union leaders, I want to thank my constituency and I want to thank community members, hairstylists, performers, allies, store owners and all of those who have made it possible to work with me on this piece of legislation.

In September 2015, Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kukyk and Nathalie Warmerdam were murdered by a man in Renfrew county. The perpetrator knew all three women.

Their tragic murders led to the Renfrew county inquest, which last June made 86 specific and concrete recommendations to prevent intimate partner violence. The very first recommendation is to identify the problem and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. Will the Premier accept the first recommendation from the Renfrew county inquest and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic?

I’ll ask the government again: Will they implement the first recommendation and name intimate partner violence what it is, an epidemic? And furthermore, will they do recommendation number 4 and create the role of an independent survivor advocate to advocate on behalf of survivors and their experience in the justice system?

This petition is entitled “Implement the Renfrew County Inquest to End Femicide in Ontario.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 2015, the same year of the tragic femicides of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie Warmerdam in Renfrew county, there have been at least 273 women killed in acts of femicide in Ontario;

“Whereas the Renfrew county inquest was published in June 2022 outlining 86 recommendations, 68 of which are under provincial jurisdiction, in order to respond to and prevent intimate partner violence and femicide;

“Whereas the provincial government has yet to respond to the Renfrew county inquest recommendations in any meaningful way;

“Whereas Black women, Indigenous women, racialized women, trans women and non-binary folks, unhoused women, women with disabilities, and women living in rural or remote communities are at a greater risk of femicide due to systemic discrimination and structural inequities that make accessing resources far more difficult;

“Whereas femicide is an epidemic;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to respond and report publicly on the findings of the Renfrew county inquest with specific and timely plans of action and accompanying budget to support implementation of the report’s recommendations to eliminate intimate partner violence in Ontario.”

I wholeheartedly support this petition, I’ve affixed my signature and I will hand it to Grace.

Speaker, there’s no new funding in the fall economic statement on gender-based violence.

Back to the Premier: Femicide is both a predictable and preventable crime. But this doesn’t happen through words; it happens through action. We are seeing a massive uptick in gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence, all while the gap between the need for resources and resources available grows wider and wider each year.

The urgency to act is grave. We cannot wait for another massacre like what happened in Montreal or Renfrew, or anywhere else for that matter, to realize what we should have done.

My question is to the Premier. The government has the opportunity to do what’s right. Will the Premier finally respond to the Renfrew recommendations with a meaningful plan of action and budget to implement them now?

My question is to the Premier. Today, we honour the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, exactly 33 years to the day since 14 women were murdered at the hands of violent misogyny in Montreal. This was not an isolated event. Since 1990, over 980—Speaker, likely far more—have been lost to femicide in Ontario alone.

This year, the Renfrew county inquest recommendations were published, following a years-long investigation into the violent, hate-fuelled murder of three women in 2015: Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam and Carol Culleton. From the government, Speaker, it’s been a lot of crickets.

My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier explain to these women’s families why the government hasn’t yet acted on any of these recommendations?

The latest report from the Ontario Association of Interval and Transitional Houses, or OAITH, says there were 52 femicides in Ontario this year. One woman or girl killed, I think we can all agree, is one too many. Each of these losses were preventable through action on the many recommendations this government has at hand to address the systemic issues that make it difficult for women and children to escape violence in the first place: actions on affordable housing, supportive housing included; wage parity; paid emergency leave; and doubling ODSP/OW benefits—because there are folks with disabilities who are victims of violence—just to name a few.

My question is to the Premier: Will this government put their words into action by implementing the many recommendations that the official opposition and community agencies have provided to finally end gender-based violence in Ontario?

Back to the Premier: Community-based investments like interval and transitional houses save lives, yet they still don’t receive annualized funding like many other public sectors do. What this means is that resources that could be put into preventing violence are instead put towards administrative hurdles and the precarity of short-term financial outlooks.

My question is back to the Premier. Will he commit to funding gender-based violence prevention and intervention through annualized funding, so that front-line workers, counsellors, agencies, sexual assault and rape crisis centres, shelters and all the community-based spaces and human beings who are caring for folks who have experienced violence aren’t left nickel-and-diming, which squeezes staff and the programs needed, and ultimately hurts women and children?

I would like to welcome and thank D. Williams from OPSBA along with executive director Rusty Hick for a wonderful meeting this morning.

I would also like to say that I recognize PDSB trustee Kathy McDonald in the members’ area—good to see you as well.

And last week, Juanita Jones came to the Legislature. She is with OPSEU, a health care worker and RPN for over 25 years, working full-time. I want to thank her for coming to Queen’s Park last week.