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News / January 10, 2025

Haliburton County has declared gender-based violence an epidemic

Staff from YWCA Peterborough Haliburton and Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre (KSAC) led a delegation to Haliburton County Council on December 11, 2024, to ask that gender-based violence be declared an epidemic in the County.

YWCA executive director Kim Dolan, YWCA Women’s Centre and HERS manager Nycole Duncan, and KSAC executive director Brittany McMillan came together to make the presentation, and Council members supported the declaration without hesitation.

Watch video of the presentation: https://www.youtube.com/live/Hj1NRNyU6-g

Local Haliburton news outlet The Highlander reported on the declaration:

County declares intimate partner violence an epidemic

The YWCA Peterborough Haliburton and Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre conservatively estimate that more than 2,500 women in Haliburton County have, or are now, experiencing intimate partner violence.

In making a presentation to County council Dec. 11, YWCA executive director Kim Dolan said, “we know that 30 per cent of women over the age of 15 experience gender-based violence. It happens to our girls, our friends, our mothers, our aunts, and we have worked with many women who are 70 and older.”

Following an inquest into the deaths of three women in Renfrew, the delegation was seeking a County declaration of intimate partner violence as an epidemic. They also wanted recommendations from the inquest to be referred to the Community Safety and Well-Being department.

Read the full story on The Highlander website

The Haliburton Echo and Minden Times also published articles about the increases in violence in Ontario, and why it affects rural women differently:

Violence against rural women is greater than those in urban settings

The increase in incidents of violence against women in Ontario disturbs groups that provide services to women in Haliburton County.

In a period of 104 weeks recently, 124 women in Ontario were murdered by somebody they loved, said Kim Dolan, executive director at the Haliburton Peterborough YWCA. “It’s more than one woman a week and, frankly, one woman ever is too many,” she said. “And that really compels us to take action.”

She said Haliburton County comprises more than 4,000 square kilometres of land and lakes. That’s about five people per square kilometres. And therein lies an important fact to remember, she said. “About the distance in geography and how isolating it is for the women we serve.”

Rural realities are significant barriers for women with and without children. Those realities are social and physical isolation, challenges with transportation and communication, and often easy access to firearms. There are issues related to income and a livable wage, she said.

“We’ve heard stories from women for years that when their abusive husband or boyfriend leaves for work during the day, the phones go with him whether it’s a landline or a cellphone,” Dolan said.

Read the full story on the Haliburton Echo website

More background on the declaration of gender-based violence as an epidemic in our communities:

  • In December 2023, YWCA Peterborough Haliburton was one of over 100 organizations who signed an open letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, calling for a provincial declaration of intimate partner violence as an epidemic. The province of Ontario had previously indicated its support for this cause by signing the Canada-Ontario bilateral agreement on the National Action Plan (NAP) to end Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
  • In September 2024, the YWCA Ontario Coalition submitted recommendations to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, Bill 173. YWCA Ontario, a coalition of the 10 YWCA member agencies in the province, was invited by MPP Dixon to give verbal testimony to the committee, followed by a written submission outlining our recommendations for the province to take action on intimate partner violence (IPV) and gender-based violence (GBV).