Domestic violence victims, experts skeptical new legislation enough to help
Former victim says police officers need more education on cycle of abuse
Domestic violence experts and victims aren't sure new Manitoba legislation to protect victims will be enough to stop abusers and keep women safe.
On Monday, the Manitoba government proposed new legislation to make it easier for victims to get a protection order, which includes more training for police and court officials about domestic violence.
Crystal Gurney got a protection order against her husband in 2013. When he promised to get help, she had the protection order lifted.
"He said he was going to get help," Gurney said. "They know how to suck you back in and they'll apologize, but they blame you, so they really manipulate you."
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The Steinbach mother said the abuse never stopped and that RCMP officers didn't take her calls seriously anymore.
In one incident, her husband called police and had her arrested instead.
"I would like to see that changed because right now, it's up to police to lay the charges, but if they don't have the full understanding and if they're not using a checklist to see how serious it is, they may be charging the wrong person," Gurney said. "The abuser might be manipulating the system."
Gurney said she told officers in Steinbach she had a previous protection order against her husband, but that wasn't taken into account.
She hopes the training promised in the province's new legislation is expanded to include all justice officials and victim services.
'We need police to take it seriously'
Anna Pazdzierski, who directs Nova House, a women's shelter in Selkirk, worries the new legislation is still putting the onus on the victim and service providers, rather than the justice system.
"We need police to take it seriously and not allow breaches to happen," she said. "A woman in the southeastern Manitoba area had 72 breaches of her protection order — 72 breaches. It's not unusual for women to have 10, 15, 20. One is too many. If the police responded at the first breach, chances are the abuser would get the idea that these will not be allowed."
Pazdzierski said domestic violence is escalating in the province.
"This year, I believe we're at nine [domestic homicides]. Every year it goes up, and people just don't seem to take it seriously," she said. "I don't understand how if you beat somebody up on the street, you're treated more harshly than if you beat your partner up in your home. There should be no difference, but there is a difference."
'Problem is not the victim'
Jane Ursel directs RESOLVE, a family violence research network, and said a major part of the equation is getting treatment for abusers.
"The problem is not the victim. It's the accused," she said. "I've been quite disheartened over the last five years that there hasn't been a lot of movement in corrections around treatment programs for domestic violence."
Advocates want to know what kind of resources will be made available to treat offenders, Ursel said.
Gorete Rodrigues has a similar story to Gurney's and said her partner learned to game the system.
Rodrigues got a protection order against her former partner in 2009 after years of abuse.
The protection order was only good for one year, and it wasn't enough to keep him from stalking her, she said.
"So I started to call police and he caught on to that, and one day, he actually went and got a protection order against me just before mine expired," she said.
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That move made the case more complicated, and Rodrigues struggled to get a new protection order against him, she said.
Rodrigues hopes the government's proposed changes will help prevent other victims of domestic violence from going through the same thing.
If the province's new legislation passes, Manitoba would be the first Canadian jurisdiction to have a firearms ban included in protection orders.
That would mean people with protection orders against them would have to turn in their registered firearms.
Rodrigues isn't sure that will be enough to protect victims.
"But what about the ones that you know don't have a registered firearm? Or can easily get one through friends or whoever it is?" she said. "I mean it's probably not hard for them to do that. So what about those ones?"