Amid a rise in intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia, a committee tasked with investigating domestic murders and finding ways to prevent them is nearing completion of its first report.
For about a year, the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee has been collecting information on homicides and murder-suicides resulting from intimate partner violence. The reviews could extend to deaths of children, extended family members and others who are involved in violence.
The committee’s first report is expected this spring and will focus on a single case. The Minister of Justice will receive detailed findings, while a summary and recommendations excluding identifying details will be made public.
Eventually, the committee will review all domestic homicide cases in the province and submit a report for each, as well as an annual report that brings together what the 14-member group learns about overall trends and themes.
Holly Foxall says it is an important time to investigate intimate partner violence, with six cases of women killed by their male partners in the last three months alone.
On average, one or two women in Nova Scotia are murdered by their male partners each year, according to a CBC News analysis of deaths over the past decade.
“It’s clear that we need really radical action to address these issues, so I think it’s good that this work is being done,” Foxall said in an interview.
Foxall is executive director of the non-profit group We Worthy Women and is part of a coalition of advocates who recently met with provincial cabinet ministers Becky Druhan and Leah Martin to discuss intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia.
Foxall said she looks forward to seeing the death review committee’s report, but will be watching for actions that follow the committee’s recommendations “more than anything.”
Good ideas are often not implemented.
This is the first time Nova Scotia has created a domestic violence death review committee, but committees of this type have been operating in other parts of Canada and in jurisdictions around the world for many years.
Peter Jaffe is a founding member of Ontario’s domestic violence death review committee and a professor at the University of Western Ontario who researches violence against women and children.
Jaffe said there are common threads that unite most domestic homicides. Last year he co-authored a peer-reviewed paper that said that, internationally, there is “a consensus in the field about what needs to be done” to prevent more murders by intimate partners. Better education for the public and training of frontline workers top the list.
The article reviewed the Ontario committee’s recommendations between 2010 and 2020 and found four themes repeated over and over again: education and training; collaboration and coordination; policies, programs and legislation; and risk assessment, security management and planning.
The problem, the research article concluded, is that Good ideas are often not implemented..
Like Foxall, Jaffe said the key to making a domestic violence death review committee effective is monitoring to see if its recommendations are implemented.
“There needs to be some kind of provincial steering committee with government and community members to ensure that good ideas don’t get lost,” Jaffe said in an interview.
Although progress is being made to address the problem of intimate partner violence, some say it is not enough. Alex Guye has the story.
The Nova Scotia Domestic Violence Death Review Committee process is detailed in its terms of reference. In the final step, the evaluation, there are two questions: Will the committee follow up on responses to the recommendations made? How will the committee measure its success?
It is unclear whether the committee has provided answers to those questions. Chief coroner Dr Matt Bowes is chair of the committee and declined to speak about its work until the first report is published. Members who responded to CBC News’ questions said the same thing.
A spokesperson for the provincial Department of Justice said “it would be premature to speculate on implementation prior to any recommendations.”
It is difficult to measure the effectiveness of the committee
Even if the recommendations are followed, Jaffe said it is difficult to determine whether death review committees make a difference. He pointed to recent affordability and housing crises as aggravating factors in domestic violence that could negate preventive efforts.
“As some problems are solved, other problems arise that make it more challenging. So sometimes I think it’s difficult to measure the success of a death review committee simply based on deaths alone, although obviously that would be the most visible what could be done. We want to have an impact.”
The Ontario committee noted in its latest report that the number of domestic homicides had not decreased since it began its work two decades earlier, so its chair decided to reform the committee’s composition.
Jaffe said there is now much more diversity on the committee, in terms of the background and experience of its members, which he considers a blessing.
“We now have a very dynamic committee with multiple perspectives,” he said.
He said it appears Nova Scotia has already established the same type of diversity among its committee members.
Members of the Nova Scotia Domestic Violence Death Review Committee are:
- Dr Matt Bowes, Chief Coroner and Chairman of the Committee.
- Josie McKinney and Crystal Sutherland, Advisory Council on the Status of Women.
- Peter Craig, Public Prosecutor’s Office.
- William Collier, RCMP.
- Dr. Robert Strang, chief medical officer of health.
- Nicole Mann, Nova Scotia Transitional Home Association.
- Lenora Paul, Mi’kmaw Children and Family Services.
- Monica Clarke-Johnson, Mi’kmaw Children and Family Services.
- Tiffany Gordon, African Nova Scotia Justice Institute.
- Susanne Litke, attorney.
- Jill Barkhouse, Department of Social Opportunities and Development.
- Dana Bowden, Department of Justice, victim services.
- Lisa Greenough, Executive Council office.
Link between mass violence and intimate partner violence
These committee members will not be the first people the government will commission to investigate gender-based violence in Nova Scotia.
In 2020, a gunman in Nova Scotia went on a shooting rampage and killed 22 people, some he knew and others who were strangers. The incident began with a brutal assault on her common-law spouse, and an investigation that followed, formally known as the Mass Victims Commission, highlighted the relationship between mass violence and intimate partner violence.
Sue Bookchin, executive director of Be the Peace Institute, noted that the Mass Victims Commission recommended public education and awareness campaigns about intimate partner violence.
He said he hopes the findings of the domestic violence death review committee will provide some fuel for that work.
“I hope that you are seeing patterns that we can use to inform the public, to inform the services that are provided and to inform a prevention strategy,” said Bookchin, who is another member of the advocacy coalition along with Foxall. .
Bookchin said there are often warning signs of intimate partner violence, but bystanders don’t know how to interpret them or how or when to intervene, making education a crucial part of stopping violence.
For anyone affected by family or intimate partner violence, support is available through crisis lines and local support services. If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety or the safety of others around you, call 911.
If you or someone you know is struggling, here’s where you can get help:
