Yesterday, we were horrified by news of yet another senseless femicide in Sault Ste. Marie as a result of intimate partner violence. Five people, including three children, are dead. A community is in mourning. These deaths will be recorded in the monthly OAITH femicide report, which confirmed in September that 46 women have already been killed by their intimate partner this year. Last year, there were a record 52 femicides in Ontario.

Yet, the Ford government continues to refuse to recognize intimate partner violence as the epidemic it is, which was the very first recommendation of the coroner’s inquest into the murders of Carol Culleton, Nathalie Warmerdam and Anastasia Kuzyk by their intimate partner in Renfrew county in 2015. The Ford government dismantled the round table on violence against women as soon as they were elected in 2018, leaving nobody to provide the coordination and identify the resources necessary to prevent intimate partner violence. They have ignored urgent pleas for stable and adequate funding for women’s shelters and organizations that support survivors.

Speaker, I am proud that the city of London is among the 63 Ontario communities that have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. Let this be the femicide that finally forces the government to do the same.