Anti-violence advocates say mass shooting report validates their calls for urgent change

Advocates for victims of gender-based violence who participated in public hearings say they are "really, really happy" with the final report's findings that violence should be recognized as a public health emergency.

They say the final report into the Nova Scotia mass shootings is a breakthrough moment that gives affirmation — and urgency — to the warnings they've been repeating for years.

"We were really, really happy with the finding," said Dawn Ferris, executive director of the Cumberland County Transitional Housing Association.

"We felt very heard and validated because we in the sector have been saying this for years, that we are underfunded and that women's lives are in danger. And so hearing that back to us in a report has been meaningful."

After holding hearings in 2022, the Mass Casualty Commission released its 3,093-page document on Thursday examining the causes and circumstances surrounding the events of April 18-19, 2020. A gunman posing as a Mountie killed 22 people in a 13-hour rampage across several communities in Nova Scotia.

The commission's final report emphasized the role of gender-based violence in the tragedy, noting the killing spree began when the gunman attacked his common-law spouse, Lisa Banfield, at their property in Portapique.

He burned their home to the ground and, after she fled, travelled through the small community killing neighbours and setting more homes ablaze.

It emphasizes the need to stop considering domestic violence as a "private" concern and calls for it to be declared a public health emergency and epidemic — a grim declaration that was nonetheless welcomed by advocates.

"One of the key things that came to me about that statement is that we can't challenge or change what we don't name," said Sue Bookchin, executive director of Be The Peace Institute in Mahone Bay.

"And so for this commission to have named that as a pandemic, as an epidemic, as endemic in all of our societies, I think is pretty crucial."

Focus on prevention and funding

The report recommends a number of approaches with a focus on preventative measures to recognize red flags and intervene before the violence escalates.

To support that work, the report also calls for long-term, stable funding for organizations that work in domestic violence prevention — a recommendation that advocates say would be a game-changer.

"Those organizations could hire more staff, could build their capacity, could hire staff at a living wage so that those organizations could do more outreach, more accompaniment to court and other kinds of systems, more early intervention counselling," said Bookchin.

"And more school- based programming with children and with youth as they are grappling with such huge gendered expectation demands."

Ferris said the groups she works with are constantly having to fundraise just to keep their shelters open.

"If we could focus more on public education, programming and community for women and men, as opposed to fundraising, we'd be doing a whole lot better," she said.

Especially important in rural communities

Statistics included in the report show women in rural areas experience the highest overall rates of intimate partner violence in Canada, with rates of police-reported intimate partner violence 75 per cent higher for rural women than urban.

It also cited 2019 statistics showing 38 per cent of women and girls killed that year lived in rural, remote and northern regions, though less than 20 per cent of the country's population lives in these regions.

Ferris and Bookchin, who both participated in the commission hearings, said women in rural communities face challenges like a lack of resources and transportation, and more barriers to reporting violence which include social pressures due to the small population.

"This sense that life is kind of a fishbowl in rural communities, is a real barrier to women coming forward," said Bookchin.

"Because if you go to a shelter or you go to the women's centre, someone you run into there may know your cousin or your best friend or your ex who just committed terrible violence against you. So these dynamics make it very difficult for people in rural communities, more so, I think, than in urban communities."

A call for men to act

Ferris and Bookchin both also applauded the report's recommendation for men to take "individual and concerted action" to end the epidemic of gender-based violence.

Bookchin urged men to recognize the "invisible construct" of male privilege and consider the ways that it benefits them, and to speak up against harmful attitudes and language displayed by other men.

Ferris said programs are available through some shelters to men who have used violence or abuse — and figures show successful outcomes for about 70 per cent of men who participate in such programs.

"That's a really encouraging number," she said.

 "It's a cyclical problem and so we need to get to the core and that will take working with men and boys. Programming for men and boys can change the needle, can change the attitudes and we have to get there."

Apprehension about a failure to act

Political leaders have so far made no commitments to change funding levels for gender-based violence prevention programs or women's organizations.

Marci Ien, the federal minister for women and gender equality, told reporters Thursday she was reviewing the report. Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and provincial justice officials have also said they are reviewing the document.

Although the plain language and urgency of the report was welcome, both Ferris and Bookchin noted it is not the first to recommend taking action to end gender-based violence.

But given the scale of the tragedy, both said they're hopeful this one will result in change.

"There have been something like 57 or 87 other inquiries or inquests about these kinds of topics with thousands of recommendations, many of which have sat on a shelf and I think this could be maybe no different," said Bookchin.

"But the fact that they have so brilliantly articulated what the issues are and that they haven't pulled any punches…. I think is a good start. I'm hopeful because I guess I have to be."

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