The statistics are their own proof: every six days in Canada a woman is killed by her intimate partner; one-in-five women experience some form of abuse in their intimate relationship, and this past year in Ontario 52 women, or one every week, were victims of femicide.
Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam were far more than statistics; they were real women in Renfrew County murdered on September 22nd of 2015 by a serial killer known to all of them.
The 2017 trial of their murderer and the 2022 inquest into the horrific killings of the three led to 86 recommendations- one of which is being embraced by jurisdictions far and wide.
At the March 29th Council session, Renfrew County- ground zero for the tragedy- joined other municipalities in declaring Intimate Partner Violence to be an epidemic, consistent with the Inquest recommendation number one.
Speaking to the motion, Warden Peter Emon noted, “It’s unfortunate Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and the murder of women in our community and society as a whole still need to be discussed.”
In a tragic footnote to the debate it was noted that in Renfrew County, two women have been killed by men since December 2022.
By Rick Stow