Lambton County Council voted unanimously Wednesday morning to declare Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) an epidemic locally.
The motion was brought forward by Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley following a presentation by Women's Interval Home Executive Director Jennifer Vansteenkiste.
"The declaration will increase public and leader awareness to the problem and must be followed by first, designating gender as a sixth pillar of concern in the Lambton County Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) Plan, with representation on the advisory committee from the coordinating committee on Violence Against Women, which is currently absent," said Vansteenkiste.
She said a lack of sufficient transitional housing and wrap-around supports for victims and survivors is also a rising concern.
"Unfortunately many women return to abusers, there's just no other choice," Vansteenkiste told county council. "They'll try family members and friends. There's a hidden homeless population of women who couch surf and statistics show that 38 per cent of homeless people are women and 75 per cent of that population have experienced domestic violence."
Vansteenkiste said since 2020, the Interval Home has seen a 63 per cent increase in clients and just last year, Lambton OPP and Sarnia police responded to a combined 928 calls of domestic and sexual abuse.
"And although over time, extreme violent crimes involving women have decreased, Ontario still experienced 52 femicides in 2022," she said. "That is one woman murdered every week, and we're on track to report the same horrendous number this year."
Mayor Mike Bradley's motion will also see a request sent to the Ontario government to declare Intimate Partner Violence a provincial epidemic.
