86 suggestions were made by the Renfrew County jury to stop violence against women
In what is being called a “unique” move, jurors who took part in a coroner’s inquest in Renfrew County last year that focused on violence against women are expected to meet this week to evaluate the provincial government’s response.
“In my time here, this is the first time I’ve seen it,” said Prabhu Rajan, who has been the chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario since 2016.
“I think it really shows how the case changed the jurors and the community as a whole,” she said.
In Pembroke last summer, a week-long inquest looked into the deaths of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie Warmerdam in and around the county in 2015.
Even though there were warning signs that he might hurt more people, the same man killed all three women on the same day.
Over the course of 14 days of testimony, the jurors heard about everything from underfunded services for victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) to missed opportunities by Ontario’s probation and parole service after the man had been convicted of crimes against two of the women he later killed.
The jury, which was made up of three men and two women from Renfrew, Griffith, Petawawa, Chalk River, and Pembroke, suggested that the provincial and federal governments, as well as other groups, follow 86 recommendations, including many preventive measures.
The last recommendation asked all the official groups involved in the inquest—the Office of the Chief Coroner, the Ontario government, the advocacy group End Violence Against Women Renfrew County, and Warmerdam’s son Malcolm—to meet again in a year “to discuss the progress in implementing these recommendations.”
The jury members were also asked to come back.Last week, Rajan said that he thought four people would go to Pembroke for the private meeting on Wednesday morning. The meeting’s contents can be talked about in public.
“They thought that these three murders of women had a big effect on their community, and they wanted to make sure that the people who got recommendations kept moving,” Rajan said.
Waiting for the second part of Ontario’s answe
Most of the suggestions were taken care of by the Ontario government.In its first response, which was sent in February, the province didn’t address 29 of the 75 recommendations made to it.
- Some local governments, like Renfrew County, have taken the step of officially calling IPV a provincial epidemic.
- A plan for housing victims of IPV who are running away from their abusers.
- Funding for safe rooms inside survivor homes.
- A hotline that is open 24/7 for men who might commit IPV.
- Consider letting police services tell new or potential partners about a person’s history of intimate partner violence (IPV). This would be similar to laws in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba.
- Keeping a record of IPV abuses and charges in the past that all police services can access.
- The practice of “mandatory charging,” in which police have to charge someone with assault if they think they have a good reason to do so, is being looked at.
- Judges’ decisions in IPV cases are being looked at.
At the time, the province said that the recommendations that hadn’t been taken care of needed more analysis and teamwork. It thought it would have a second answer to those by the end of June.
As of Thursday, the Office of the Chief Coroner had not gotten that answer.
In an email from the Office of the Solicitor General on Friday, the province said it would send the second part of its answer “soon.”
Kirsten Mercer, the lawyer for EVA Renfrew County at the inquest, wanted to get it as soon as possible.
She said, “It’s disappointing that the government is likely to send us another large amount of information without giving us much time to digest it.” “But if I’m being honest, I’d rather they do it right.”
Before Friday, it wasn’t clear if Ontario would be at this week’s meeting.On June 15, CBC News first asked the province if it would be willing to take part. The Solicitor General’s Office said Friday that it would send representatives.
Seven of the 86 recommendations were sent to the federal government. One of them was to set up a royal commission to look into making the criminal justice system “more victim-centric.”
Ottawa hasn’t replied yet because, as Rajan explained, an administrative mistake at the Office of the Chief Coroner meant that Ottawa didn’t get a copy of the recommendations right away.
In a statement sent by email, the Department of Justice said it would answer by the deadline of August 14.
There will be a public “counterpart” even
Luke’s Place is a non-profit organization in Oshawa that helps women escape violence. Pamela Cross, who is in charge of advocacy, said that the province has also been invited to a “public counterpart” event Luke’s Place is holding in Petawawa on Wednesday afternoon.
There will be time for each group responding to the jury’s suggestions to talk about what they’ve done in the past year.
Representatives from the Office of the Chief Coroner, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the federal government have said they will go, but Cross said, “We haven’t heard anything from the province.”
“This government hasn’t done much to address the problem of violence against women since it took office,” she said.
After the inquest heard that the killer used a gun even though he wasn’t allowed to have them, the jury asked Ontario’s chief firearms officer to tighten the rules on firearm possession and acquisition licenses. However, Cross said that the chief firearms officer turned down Luke’s Place’s invitation.
“Some of the jurors have told us they will be at our event,” she said. “They will remain anonymous and private.”
Malcolm Warmerdam, who had talked to CBC News before as Warmerdam’s daughter, really wanted a probation and parole officer from Ontario to go to Pembroke.
The person who did this broke his parole rules over and over again, and the service missed chances to keep a closer eye on him while he was out on probation after being convicted of domestic violence against two of his victims.
In its statement, the Office of the Solicitor General said that the murderer “should never have been let out of prison in the first place, and the justice system gave him too many chances to do right.”
Warmerdam said that Ontario’s slow response was not “setting up for success” this process.
The province pointed out that it gave money to police officers earlier this year to go after people who don’t follow their bail conditions.
The statement said, “We know there is more to do, and the Renfrew jury’s recommendations will help guide our future investments in comprehensive anti-crime programs and policy changes.”
Mercer said that women’s lives show how much time has passed.
“This needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible.”