Working across sectors to address the epidemic
In September 2024, the Nova Scotia Government passed Bill 482, formally declaring intimate partner violence (IPV) an epidemic in Nova Scotia. Since then, seven women have been killed here by their intimate partners. These tragedies shatter families, friends and whole communities.
To address the crisis, non-profit leaders are breaking through traditional silos to strategize, partner, and engage with government and others to implement recommendations from inquiries like the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC), the Desmond Fatality Inquiry, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry, and the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence.
Nova Scotia has the highest rates of self-reported IPV in Canada, the highest provincial rates of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, and is home to the worst single-shooter mass casualty in Canadian history. On April 18-19, 2020, the perpetrator—who had a two-decade history of abusing his intimate partner and other vulnerable women—commenced a 13-hour shooting and arson trail that resulted in the violent deaths of 22 people. The MCC’s final Report affirmed the correlation between IPV and incidents of mass violence as a global phenomenon. The Report also confirmed our tendency, as a society, to look away from what was once deemed “private” violence occurring in the intimate relationships of friends, neighbours, or co-workers. Left unchecked, it can spill into public spaces, putting the lives of many more people at risk.
Be the Peace Institute, a south shore non-profit dedicated to ending and addressing the root causes of all gender-based violence (GBV), is co-hosting the second annual GBV Summit funded by the NS Status of Women, on April 7-8 at Oak Island Resort. This year’s Summit planning team boasts a growing list of partner organizations including the Halifax Chamber’s own Transgender Non-Binary Rights Advocacy NS (T.R.A.N.S.), Transition House Association of NS (THANS), Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Access to Justice & Law Reform Institute, NS Association of Black Social Workers, We Worthy Women, Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, Women’s Centres, Schools Plus, African Nova Scotian Justice Institute, and SS Family Resource Association. This year’s theme, “Epidemic to Action,” calls us to move beyond naming IPV as an epidemic to developing strategic community-led, survivor-informed, and trauma-safe solutions.
The MCC Report, Turning the Tide Together, outlines the sustained “whole of society” response needed to tackle this public health crisis. At the Summit, workers across the GBV service sector will engage with justice, government, academia, public safety, health, education, survivors of GBV, and specific underserved populations—such as Black and African Nova Scotian, Indigenous, queer, trans and non-binary, newcomer, youth and folks living with disabilities—to consider the individual, institutional, and systemic factors that have made IPV so difficult to address. The Summit will continue to lay critical groundwork for an integrated approach that leverages the collective power of government, community, and private sector partnerships to generate innovative solutions.
As the MCC recognized, the tide can only be turned when all sectors of society step up to play their part. Private sector businesses and philanthropic organizations have an essential role to play in ending the GBV epidemic. They can be contributors and allies in amplifying public awareness campaigns, supporting prevention programs, sponsoring initiatives and events like the GBV Summit, and investing in long term capacity development of community sector partners who have shouldered the burden of affecting change for far too long.
Together, we can move the needle by developing cross-sector infrastructures for collaborative efforts to realize safer options for women, girls, 2-spirit, and gender and racially diverse individuals who are at risk of violence. Together, we can decrease the rates, scope, and prevalence of GBV and IPV in our province to improve the overall safety, health, wellbeing, and productivity of all Nova Scotians.
Contact Mica Daurie at TRANSadvocacy@outlook.com or Sue Bookchin at sue@bethepeace.ca today to become a Summit sponsor or explore other opportunities to turn the tide!
