LETTER: Time to implement plan to end gender-based violence

SooToday received the following letter to the editor from former Conservative MP Bryan Hayes in response to our story Trudeau not ready to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.

As the initiator of a private member’s motion on domestic violence prevention driven by the community of Sault Ste. Marie while I was its Member of Parliament that was unanimously adopted by all members of parliament in 2012 and sent to the Status of Women Committee for study and report back to Parliament, I was disappointed in Prime Minister Trudeau’s response that he was not currently prepared to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.

The final comprehensive report from the Status of Women Committee in response to my motion titled “Towards a Violence Free Canada: Addressing and Eliminating Intimate Partner and Family Violence” was tabled in the House of Commons in June 2022 and came with numerous excellent recommendations that the government responded to in October 2022.

On the heels of that report, on Nov. 9, 2022, the government endorsed a National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence. This plan certainly forms a strong basis for moving forward.

The challenge moving forward is that there are no legislated funds put aside on an ongoing basis to implement all the recommendations. The government of the day would not allow me to introduce my motion as a Bill, which forces money to be set aside to fulfill recommendations that come forward from the study nor does the current government’s response to that report legislate funds.

Similarly, while Mr. Trudeau has mentioned the National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence, the plan simply identifies actions that “could” be included or “opportunities” for action. It does not provide legislated funds for implementation.

I believe that by designating intimate partner violence an epidemic that would force the government to not only identify appropriate levels of funding required to honour those recommendations but also to prioritize and legislate required funds.

It is encouraging to note that budget 2022 did commit $539.3 million over five years to support provinces and territories to implement the National Action Plan.

Of note, the government is quick to point out that many recommendations are cross jurisdictional, so the ultimate challenge is how to hold all governments to account as we have all seen too often the blame game.

A proper structure must be put into place to oversee the distribution and administration of funding as well as to establish and measure outcomes.

While the Auditor General and Parliamentary Budget Officer can play a role, I believe a separate oversight committee needs to be established to ensure plans are followed leading to a reduction in violence from this national epidemic. In 2019 in Canada, one person was murdered every five days as a result of intimate partner violence. That has risen to one every four days in 2021. Three quarters of these potentially preventable deaths are women and girls.

There is so much more proactive intervention that could be done to minimize the chance of our children becoming violent offenders, so that the cycle of violence is broken.

I believe that if best practices and prevention are implemented at appropriate stages in an individual's life, then domestic violence can be dramatically reduced.

I intend to do whatever I can to assist. Plans and recommendations are in place.

It’s time to prioritize, fund and implement.

Bryan Hayes