The tragedy of a triple-homicide near the Ottawa Valley has hopefully sparked some lasting change across the province, aimed at preventing intimate partner violence.
Back on September 22, 2015 three women in rural Renfrew County – namely Nathalie Warmerdam, Carol Culleton and Anastasia Kuzyk – were all killed by the same man. Each of them knew the man prior to being murdered – in fact they’d been the victims of his violence in the past. With Kuzyk, for example, he had been criminally convicted of assaulting and trying to choke her; with Warmerdam, he had become so dangerous during their two-year cohabitation that she had considered pressing charges against him. He had frequently violated his existing probation orders with no consequences, and had failed to take part of in a court-ordered domestic violence program. At the time of the murders, he was in breach of a lifetime weapons ban.
Yet there were many warning signs long before that: The man had had a history of physical aggression against women dating back to 1977, when he netted his first conviction at the age of 20.
Fortunately, he’s now behind bars, for good.
And now a three-week Coroner’s Inquest into those 2015 murders has resulted in 86 recommendations from the jury, all targeting the prevention of similar tragedies. What’s more, the Ontario government is taking immediate steps to implement some of them.
The jury’s focus was on preventing intimate partner violence outright, and their report urges the government to promptly take several affirmative steps. Included among the list of recommendations are the following:
- Formally declare intimate partner violence to be an epidemic, and have the federal legislature change the Canadian Criminal Code to designate psychological abuse and femicide as criminal offences.
- Revise the Ontario Family Law Act to allow courts to impose restraining orders that include mandatory counselling.
- Create education programs for students at all levels of school starting with the primary grades, to teach them about the signs of gender-based violence including the more subtle form known as “coercive control”.
- In line with the advice of experts, ensure that those with a propensity towards inflicting abuse are educated and treated long before they even get involved with the criminal justice system.
Respecting those who are convicted of intimate partner violence, the jury also recommends exploring the following changes:
- Having offenders be ordered to wear electronic monitoring bracelets, as part of their sentences.
- Allowing police services to disclose information about their history of intimate partner violence to new or future partners (echoing laws that are already in place in some other Canadian provinces).
Finally, there are certain recommendations are aimed squarely at probation services; these call for enhanced collaboration with corrections staff about the offender’s post-release plans, and ramped-up monitoring of high-risk perpetrators of intimate partner violence. There is also a call for a review of the overall probation services mandate, to prioritize victim safety and improvements in offender rehabilitation initiatives.
While none of these jury-led recommendations are binding on the government, they are seen as compelling. In a public statement in response, the provincial government has declared its commitment to breaking the cycle of intimate partner violence, to supporting survivors, and to keeping communities safe. It adds that “Part One” of its reaction can be seen in various ministries, where work on about half of the jury’s recommendations is already underway.
Jury Recommendations from the Coroner’s Inquest:
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22072317/inquest.pdf
Further reports on the government response:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-renfrew-county-triple-murder-inquest/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ipv-backstory/