Is Violence Against Women Increasing in Montreal?

Local 514 has become a news hour. Instead of focusing on one topic, we will now be covering multiple topics per episode to provide you with more coverage and perspectives to keep you up to date with what’s happening in Montreal.

In today’s episode, we look at violence against women in Montreal and Quebec, as 15 women have been killed due to gender based violence this year. We also investigate the movement for decriminalizing sex work.

Shennel joins the show to discuss femicides, what red flags to look out for in relationships and what the government needs to do to better prevent it and to better support those dealing with domestic violence. Shennel is a volunteer from Women Aware, an organization which supports women experiencing conjugal violence, she goes by a first name basis for privacy and safety reasons. Mischa Shadloo, the Programming and Campaigns Coordinator from the Centre for Gender Advocacy, also joins the show to discuss the movement for decriminalizing sex worker.

Approximately every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. The proportion of women killed by their spouse or partner is more than 8 times greater than the proportion of men. These are statistics are provided by Statistics Canada.

On December 7th, Montreal commemorated the Polytechnique shooting that happened 32 years ago, where a gunman entered the school, separating the women and the men and killed all of the 14 women before turning the gun on himself.

Mayor Valerie Plante said, "It’s a time to reflect as a society on what we can do to better protect women."

So how much reflection do we need to do?

This year a suspected 15 women were killed by femicides in Quebec. In some situations, these were by their own partners, suspected to be aggravated by the lockdown and limiting the ability for these women to escape and distance themselves.

So what do we need to do as a society to protect women and reduce femicides? Local 514 investigates...

If you are experience conjugal violence and need suppory, you can reach out to women aware via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter or call their hotline number at (514) 489-1110. You can also visit Stella, whcih supports those expiercing conjugal violence on their website.

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