As a part of the national Community Engagement Initiative coordinated through YWCA Canada and
with funding provided through the Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Women’s Program, OAITH
received funding to hold a total of five Community Engagement Sessions with OAITH members
across the province. These Community Engagement Sessions were designed to gain valuable community feedback, insight and expertise to inform the creation of a National Action Plan on GenderBased Violence. These Community Engagement Sessions have provided an opportunity to ensure
the expertise of the VAW sector is considered and incorporated into the creation of a NAPGBV.
Following the Community Engagement Sessions, OAITH created a total of five reports detailing the
region specific conversations, recommended considerations, steps and actions that are needed to
end gender-based violence. These reports were submitted to the YWCA on March 5, 2021.
This report contains an overall summary of these regional Community Engagement Session reports, as well as overall analysis and recommendations.
Femicide is commonly and historically defined as the intentional murder of
women because they are women. Broader definitions can include any killings of
women or girls. Definitions of femicide can be complex as we continuously
examine evolving definitions of gender and existing relationships between
victims and perpetrators. We examine femicides where men have been charged
or deemed responsible. OAITH’s review of media reported femicides includes
women, children, trans women, 2-Spirited Peoples and gender non-conforming
individuals where this has been reported by the media. This list includes
murders that have occurred in Ontario and is based on media reports and other
publically available sources. This means there may be errors or omissions. This
list is partial.
OAITH reviews and analyzes hundreds of media articles every year based on our
definition of femicide and victim/perpetrator relationship. A femicide could be
perpetrated by a current or former husband or boyfriend. It could be a brother,
son or a nephew. It can also be perpetrated by a man who is a coworker,
neighbour, friend or acquaintance. At times, relationships may be unknown but
violent gendered crimes including sexual violence may have occurred prior to
the murder. More broadly it can include other men closely known to them, and
in some cases relationship to the victim is not released, but the gendered
nature of the murder would indicate a femicide has occurred.
Since 1990 we are aware of over 900 women, girls and gender-diverse individuals
who have lost their lives to men’s violence. Every year we release our Annual
Femicide List based on media reporting of women murdered by men in Ontario.
We work to ensure that we remember the lives lost, bring attention to the
violence women experience, and take action to move our list to zero.
In Partnership with: Our work on femicide reporting is done in partnership with
Dr. Mavis Morton, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of
Guelph and Emma Kelly, Master's Candidate, Criminology and Criminal Justice
Policy, University of Guelph. Join Us in Ending Violence Against Women in
Ontario www.oaith.ca
Intimate Partner Violence impacts 25% to 30% of Canadian women. Women’s
shelters were created as the dominant solution to violence; however, there are
differences in service in urban and rural areas. This study examined strategies and
innovations being adopted to strengthen service delivery and support women who
have experienced violence. This descriptive participatory research study used a
focus group and in-depth interviews with five innovative rural women’s shelters.
Using thematic analysis, we found when Community Education, Networking,
Technology, Resourceful Able Leaders was enacted using a Hub Model, there was
innovation in service delivery overcoming challenges.
This following report provides an overview of femicide in Ontario from October 1st- October 31st, 2021. It is important to note that the information pertaining to these femicide cases may be incomplete due to ongoing police investigations. As investigations continue there will likely be further details released, allowing for a more thorough analysis of femicide trends in Ontario. It is also important to note the total number of confirmed femicides may not be accurate. The OAITH femicide list relies on media reporting to track femicide cases and as a result these totals may not capture all of the femicide victims who may have been omitted from media coverage.