GUELPH – Wellington County politicians aren’t declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic – for now at least.
County council was asked to do just that by Guelph Wellington Women in Crisis public educator Cindy McMann during a Feb. 29 delegation.
The first step to tackle what McMann called an escalating problem, includes reframing intimate partner violence as a public health concern and to “declare it as the epidemic that it is,” she said.
Treating it as a public health concern, she explained, would help avoid “victim-blaming” and understand the problem as something passed through generations.
“Folks who grow up in environments that are violent are more likely to experience violence themselves, or could become violent,” McMann said.
Council heard around 240 clients, along with 142 dependents, accessed emergency shelter through the women’s crisis organization in 2023.
“Intimate partner violence is not going away, and the things that we are doing right now to address it are not working,” McMann said at the meeting.
However, the county’s social services committee demurred on treating the issue as an epidemic.
Warden Andy Lennox said it didn’t fit the definition, and council isn’t equipped to respond to the problem on its own.
“It’s a serious issue that we need to take seriously, but is it an epidemic? I don’t know,” Lennox said. “We want to support it in whatever way we can, but we can’t take it on.”
Committee chair David Anderson said the more discussion there is, the more press coverage, and the more people get tuned in to the issue.
“We’re not going to get a result on our own,” Anderson said, advocating for partnerships.
Councillor Gregg Davidson said the county’s focus should be on creating more shelter spaces for women and children.
The 28-bed Women in Crisis shelter in Guelph is always full, and there is nothing in the county oriented to women and children fleeing abusive relationships.
“We can tackle some of the lack of spaces for where people can go and be safe,” Davidson said. “That is where the focus should be, not making it an epidemic.”
No action was taken at the meeting.
The warden told the Advertiser by email he expects shelters to be brought up again “in the near future.”
“The matter will come before full council at the end of the month,” he added. “Any councillor may choose to raise this issue then.”
