Domestic violence related homicide is twice as high in rural Saskatchewan compared to urban areas, according to a new Domestic Violence Death Review Report released by the province on Friday.
The review was conducted by a multi-ministry steering committee and three multidisciplinary case review teams. They completed an analysis of 31 domestic homicide-related deaths, including an in-depth analysis of 11 cases.
“I’m not surprised, specifically when looking at how many calls (there are) to rural areas,” Prince Albert Council of Women President Chrissy Halliday said when asked about the report’s findings.
“That is very disheartening, just thinking about rural areas, their lack of services, their lack of access to even get services, especially a number of years ago when STC closed.”
Halliday said that she also worries about first responders who have to respond to these calls and their mental health
” I do happen to know that when peace officers are responding, whether they’re Prince Albert, City police or RCMP, domestic cases are always some of the most dangerous for them to respond to,” she said.
The majority of domestic homicide victims were female (83 per cent) and most perpetrators were male (82 per cent). Most victims were murdered by current intimate partners. Indigenous peoples were overrepresented as victims.
“I realize that in the report they talked specifically about deaths. But I’m going to be honest with you. A lot of these deaths can be prevented,” Halliday said.
The review emphasized the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to address domestic violence in Saskatchewan.
The six recommendations promote action in education and awareness, intervention for perpetrators, victim-centered approaches, legislation and policy, services in rural and northern areas and infrastructure development.
Halliday agreed with several of the recommendations including education and awareness, which she said needs to be ongoing.
“In the report it did say youth focused and absolutely it has to be youth focused,” she said. “When you’re looking at the age category of people being affected by interpersonal violence, it’s 30 to 40 that’s your highest risk age group right now. I can tell you as somebody who is just about out of that age group at this point, we didn’t get a lot of education on that when we were growing up.”
Halliday said it’s good to see the province emphasizing the importance of education and awareness, but there’s always the question about how it will be done and where the money to do it will come from.
Halliday also said she appreciated the emphasis on intervention and victim-centred approaches. She said municipal police and RCMP have already established victim services units, and are doing a good job.
Going forward, Halliday said it’s going to be important report domestic violence when residents see it or experience it. She said legislation that came out in the past couple of years made it possible to look somebody up to see if they have previous interpersonal violence offences. She said that’s helpful, but the perpetrators still need to be tried and charged for those offences.
She gave the example of individuals who may have not gone to court or are currently in the court system.
“Let’s say they’re out dating. They they’re out looking for their next victim, unfortunately. We need legislation that can help protect people even in those situations,” she said.
Services in rural areas and infrastructure development is also important. She said that with the closure of STC if you are in a community like Codette, located between Melfort and Nipawin it is a problem when you cannot drive for service.
“But also there is a lack of self-service in that area and our infrastructure involving Internet is still very, very low in rural communities. Once again, seeing the high number in rural communities was not surprising.”
The recommendations in this report put the onus of change on societal systems and individuals who use violence.
As part of the review, family members and loved ones of domestic homicide victims were invited to participate in the development of a piece of art to act as a memorial for those lost. This memorial expresses loss, grief and memories. It also depicts hope for the future and for change.
This is the first Domestic Violence Death Review since 2018. That report was used to develop numerous initiatives to address domestic violence in Saskatchewan, including, funding for second stage housing. On Monday, the province announced more funding for that initiative.
Halliday said that the most important part of the report was the education aspect. In older generations, she worries many won’t do anything about domestic violence when they see it.
“I think it’s that they don’t know what to do about it,” she said. “They don’t know who to reach out to. Lots of times they don’t even know how to have the conversations with victims.”
Younger generations, she said, are talking about it more often.
“We’re talking about how to have tough conversations with people and younger generations are more likely to report,” she said. “Older generations they just don’t. They walk away, (or) they pretend they don’t see it, and that’s why we’re looking at that age group of 30 to 40 being your most at risk.”
Halliday said any future awareness campaign will have to make it clear where and whom to reach out to.
“I do believe that our peace officers do a very good job when they’re called to scenes,” she said. “They are in very dangerous situations, but at the same time they also have a lot of training as far as compassion and how to safely manage these kinds of situations, but they need to be alerted first. They need to be alerted before we end up with a death.”
In a press release, The Government of Saskatchewan said it is committed to responding to the recommendations and opportunities for action in the 2024 Domestic Violence Death Review.
The province conducted its first Domestic Violence Death Review in 2016 and released the resulting final report in 2018 to expand the provincial understanding of domestic violence deaths and inform future policies and practices.
-with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
