An expert says that Saskatchewan needs to take measures after the launch of his second review of couples’ deaths (IPV).
This review, published on Thursday, analyzes the IPV incidents that ended in the deaths of 2015 to 2020. Specifically observed 31 cases that covered 34 homicides and four related suicides.
The report was intended to discover systemic problems and provide recommendations to avoid future tragedies. It was prepared by three multidisciplinary cases review teams along with family members and loved ones from the victims, according to the report.
“We need to stop labeling this as a complex problem and get to work. There are real problems in this province with alcohol, poverty, opinions on gender roles and the lack of proactive solutions that address the root causes”, a member of the Case review The team said in the report.
The report called IPV a “deeply generalized problem.”
The review describes the common factors in many cases, such as the background of child abuse perpetrators, substance and poverty abuse.
He also addresses how many victims tried to seek help before his death, but faced barriers.
The eighty -two percent of the perpetrators in the cases were men and 83 percent of the victims were women, according to the report.
There was also an overrepresentation of indigenous peoples, with 57 percent of all adult victims identified as indigenous.
Fifty percent of cases occurred in rural locations, 32 percent in Urban, 10 percent in the district of the North Saskatchewan administration and eight percent in the first nations.
Read the full report here:
Recommendations
The recommendations of the report focus on six areas:
- Education and conscience.
- Intervention for perpetrators.
- Victim centered approaches.
- Legislation and political.
- Services in rural and north areas.
- Infrastructure development.
Jo-Anne Dusel, Executive Director of the Provincial Association of Transition and Services Houses of Saskatchewan (Paths), said the recommendations are “really good”, but have been made by defenders or survivors in the past.
“All these recommendations are very close to my heart,” he said.
Dusel said he often asked him why Saskatchewan has such high rates from IPV and points out what other jurisdictions are doing to fight it.
“Frankly, Ontario began to make death reviews for domestic violence more than 20 years ago and have been implementing their recommendations that come from that.”
This is the second review of this type conducted in Saskatchewan, with the previous one launched in 2018.
Dusel said that compared to the 2018 report, this includes more focus on how to deal with perpetrators to avoid greater violence.
“If we really want to change rates and prevent violence from happening in the first place, we need to intervene with people who run the risk of using violence or are using violence in relationships.”
The review says that 64 percent of the perpetrators and the victims were involved in a rupture or separation of high conflict. It also establishes that 82 percent of perpetrators were under financial or unemployed stress, 64 percent had misogynistic attitudes and 73 percent were depressed, in the opinion of family and friends.
The recommendations are as good as the actions that come later, Dusel said.
“If a piece is missing in this process, you are using these recommendations and the recommendations of the previous report to develop a specific action plan to address the intimate violence of a couple and family in Saskatchewan.”
Dusel said an action plan has objectives, objectives, deadlines and evaluations to monitor progress.
Province on recommendations
The review highlights some of the actions that the Government has taken since 2018.
According to the document, the province has added numerous programs and has made legislative changes.
An example is the victims of the interpersonal violence amendment law, which allows tenants to end the fixed -term lease agreements 28 days in advance without sanctions if they are victims of IPV.

Another change in the legislation now allows people who experience IPV to take 10 days free of work, licensed for five of those days.
“With this second report, we see that these recommendations are largely aligned with part of the work we are already doing, which is encouraging, but certainly recognizes that there is more work to do,” said the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General. Tim McLeod in the Saskatchewan legislature on Thursday.
When asked if the government would follow all the recommendations, the minister did not promise to give a general commitment.
“These are not exactly verification lists that can be said, yes, this is done,” McLeod said.
“These are evolving and being constantly monitored, so we will continue following the recommendations and analyze the development of policies and initiate answers that are consistent with the recommendations, always be aware that until we can say that domestic violence has been eliminated from Saskatchewan, there will always be a job to do. “