The head of a women’s shelter system in Belleville agrees with a coroner’s jury finding that Ontario should establish a commission dedicated to eradicating “intimate partner violence.”
Executive Director of Three Oaks Shelter, Sandy Watson-Moyles, commented to Quinte News on a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of three women, murdered by their former partnes.
The inquest in the Pembroke area focussed on the dynamics of gender-based violence, intimate partner violence and femicide in rural communities.
Watson-Moyles said, “The Hadley inquest which I believe was 2002 … the last recommendation for that inquest was also a commission that was arms length that would review any recommendations and see that they were put through, and we know how that worked out. That’s my half-empty view but, as a shelter worker, we are always hopeful that anything that comes out in the media that the public can look at and get to is really valuable and really important and really positive. We’re excited that they have once again put on paper things that we’ve said all along. We just hope that it sees fruition.”
“My first priority would be an arms-length commission to make sure that the recommendations are followed through with because, without that, the rest are worthless.”
Watson-Moyles said one of the other things that she thinks is essential is the accountability of the perpetrators and the service providers of the perpetrators to ensure that this is a serious offence.
“When they were releasing the findings from this inquest there was more murders in Ottawa. And the week before that two in Toronto. So, you know, this is a pandemic, and it needs to be seen as one.”
“Women that we are seeing now coming into the shelter are certainly reporting that they experience things definitely differently during the pandemic. They were prisoners in their own homes basically.”
Watson-Moyles indicated a review is needed of the funding for both shelters and the issue of sexual assault.
