Gender and intimate partner based violence epidemic declared in Brampton

Brampton has voted to declare gender and intimate partner-based violence an epidemic.

The motion, from Brampton Councillors Navjit Kaur Brar and Rowena Santos, was unanimously passed at Brampton’s Committee of Council meeting today (June 21).

Brampton will join 24 municipalities and regions across Ontario that have already declared a gender-based violence and/or intimate partner violence epidemic.

“Femicide is often the end result of gender-based violence and abuse and one of the unfortunate outcomes in a system that doesn’t take claims of abuse, harassment, stalking, as seriously as should be,” said Brar.

The recent deaths of women in Brampton and Mississauga, sadly, prompted the city to take action.

The most recent incident was Davinder Kaur who died on May 19 after police say she was repeatedly stabbed in Brampton’s Sparrow Park by Nav Nishan Singh, who sources say was Kaur’s estranged husband.

“Right here in this city in this community, a woman was killed in broad daylight in public by her husband, she leaves behind her four children, and Davinder Kaur deserved safety that day,” said Rebecca Pacheco, Public Education and Community Collaboration coordinator for Peel Committee Against Women Abuse (PCAWA) during her delegation today.

“Femicide and gender-based violence is happening in Brampton, in our community.”

Pacheco said there have been two femicides in Peel Region so far this year, and four last year.

Recent cases of suspected femicides reported in the media include Brampton woman Pawanpreet Kaur who was shot and killed in December while working at the Petro-Canada gas station in Mississauga.

Davinder Kaur, left, and Pawanpreet Kaur died in suspected femicides.

And Chandanpreet Kaur was stabbed and killed at a busy Mississauga Canadian Tire.

“How many femicides need to happen before we step up to formally recognize and commit to action?” Pacheco said. “Declaring intimate partner violence and gender-based violence an epidemic will help increase awareness of this issue.”

Sharon Mayne Devine, CEO, Catholic Family Services, Safe Centre of Peel, said she is seeing more women come forward to ask for help.

“You know, I’ve been doing this work since 1987 and so often women feel like it’s their fault, if they were just a better woman, if they were just a better spouse, if they were just a better mother, maybe this abuse wouldn’t happen to them,” said Devine. “And now women are getting the message, that it’s not their fault.”

As more women come forward and awareness grows, Santos noted that more funding will be needed.

“The challenge with that is when you increase awareness, you increase demand for services,” she said.

Santos suggested part of the reason why there’s been an increase in violence is because some of these women have no place to go.

“Because we’re not funding them appropriately.”

But with the formal declaration epidemic, requests for funding and support will carry more weight, she indicated.

With files from Ryan Rumbolt