Dear Editor:
RE: County politicians hesitant to declare intimate partner violence an ‘epidemic,’ March 21.
I’m wondering what kind of message the men on Wellington County council think is communicated to young men and boys in our community by not declaring intimate violence an epidemic.
I wonder what message it sends to current and future perpetrators of intimate partner violence. I wonder what message it sends to women who have to spend countless months and years trying to manage the pain and trauma inflicted from those violent events. I wonder what message it sends to the children who are so innocently impacted by this implosion of their parent’s vital support.
As a father of a pre-teen daughter and partner to a wonderfully strong woman, as a county taxpayer and as a public servant myself, I find it incredibly short-sighted that these men are hesitating in the slightest.
Maybe their hesitation is because they’re secretly about to propose that Wellington County is not just going to declare the epidemic, but has already begun plans to build much needed shelters in all of our townships.
Because, this problem isn’t going away. Not declaring it, not saying what it is, it only adds fuel to the fire. Man up! Be the leaders you were elected to be.
Christopher Jess,
Elora