Thank you and hello. I want to thank you for your time and for the invitation to attend today.
My name is Erin Griver, and I've been working in the gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, and violence against women sector for 30 years. I'm the director of Inasmuch House, the first women's shelter to open in Canada. We're a 40-bed shelter for women and children. I'm also co-chair of the Woman Abuse Working Group in Hamilton, which is also known as WAWG.
WAWG is a violence against women coordinating committee consisting of organizations and individuals who are the subject matter experts committed to supporting survivors of gender-based violence, intimate partner violence and sexual violence in the city of Hamilton.
WAWG is the only multisector table that focuses on gender-based violence and intimate partner violence in Hamilton, and it holds the necessary experience and expertise to propel change. This table has been in existence for 30 years.
Femicide describes the intentional killing of women, girls and other gender-diverse individuals by men. The most common perpetrators of femicides are men who are either a woman's current or former intimate partner, a family member or someone known to them.
Gender-based violence has been called the shadow pandemic. Few people realize how widespread the problem is because the stories rarely receive more than local attention. Indigenous, Black and 2SLGBTQ+ women, girls, gender-diverse individuals, and women with disabilities are at increased risk and experience disproportionate levels of gender-based violence.
Every life lost to femicide tears a hole in the fabric of our communities. We honour those lives and commit to making change to prevent future femicides. Naming men's violence as the problem is part of the change we need to make as a society. We can't change it if we can't name it. For every femicide, there are more survivors who are not safe in their homes, workplaces and communities. We can do more to reach out and support them. We can engage their intimate partners, family members, friends, co-workers and acquaintances to end the violence.
There's no commitment to prevention in Ontario or Canada. For 20 years, domestic homicide death reviews have provided recommendations that can move us forward towards prevention. It is time to review our progress and invest in the evidence to see stronger social returns.
There are successes to build on. There are experts and advocates in every community who can help. Most femicides are preventable. There are clear warning signs and indicators of escalating risk in 99% of cases. We can take the steps to reduce risk before it escalates. The Ontario domestic violence death review committee provides strong evidence and recommendations that can guide us. We ask that you do everything in your power to protect all citizens from gender-based violence. Your influence and—