Shining a Light on Intimate Partner Violence: Empowering Survivors Through Awareness, Support and Prevention - by Councillor Lily Cheng, seconded by Mayor Olivia Chow

Advocacy groups continue to sound the alarm that professionals are seeing increased cases of physical violence, confinement, and financial and emotional abuse in recent years. For example, Toronto's Barbra Schlifer Clinic alone served 18,000 survivors from April 2023-March 2024. Recognizing the severity of this issue, Toronto City Council, led by Mayor Olivia Chow, declared intimate partner and gender-based violence an epidemic on July 20, 2023. This declaration was passed unanimously and aligns Toronto with over 30 Ontario municipalities that have made similar declarations, following the recommendations of the 2022 Coroner's Inquest into the deaths of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie Warmerdam. This inquest highlighted the urgent need for systemic change and called for formal recognition of Intimate Partner Violence as an epidemic. Despite Council's declaration, Intimate Partner Violence incidents continue to rise in Toronto (from 2023 to 2024), with Toronto Police attending to 18,119 incidents in 2024. Many individuals still suffer in silence due to fear, stigma, and lack of awareness of available resources. A comprehensive public communications campaign is crucial for raising awareness, reducing stigma, and ensuring that every resident knows where to turn for assistance. Such a campaign would not only inform but also empower individuals to seek assistance, fostering a community-wide response to this epidemic. Survivors should be able to access key information across the City in the many places where they interact with City services.

Gender-Based Violence organizations, to deliver a citywide public education campaign in 2026 and 2027, within existing and approved budget, to address the ongoing epidemic of Intimate Partner and Gender-Based Violence in our city to both highlight resources, programs and services that support and empower survivors specifically targeting locations where survivors interact with City programs and services, and prevent intimate partner violence and gender-based violence.