London's Police Services Board wants community input on adding femicide to the Criminal Code

The London Police Services Board (LPSB) is seeking community input from the public, along with local women's advocacy groups and experts, on defining femicide in Canada's Criminal Code, and for such incidents to be treated as hate-motivated crimes.

"We wanted to make sure that we can consult with people in our community and across the country because a lot of people are examining femicide right now and looking at strategies they can take to make sure its utilized in their own communities," said LPSB member, Megan Walker. 

The letter sent to the public on Monday follows three motions that LPSB unanimously passed at their meeting last month which address male violence against women, impacting a disproportionate number of racialized and Indigenous women.

It directs London's police chief, Steve Williams, to mandate officers investigating any incident in which the victim is from an identifiable group, to consider if it was hate-motivated.

The motions also require Williams to incorporate demographic information specifically reflecting the sex of known perpetrators of hate-motivated crimes and victims in his annual report to LPSB.

"The motions have a narrow focus specific to femicide and hate crime. They do not speak to all aspects of addressing male violence against women," LPSB chair, Susan Toth wrote in the letter. 

'Missing the mark' in terms of prevention

Walker, who's the former head of the London Abused Women's Centre, says that without a Criminal Code definition, police services are significantly restricted in laying femicide-related charges. 

"Every 36 hours in Canada, a woman or girl is murdered," she said. "I think that all Canadians should be appalled by that statistic."

"There are many families who have lost their daughters to femicide, and many others who have been invested in seeing it defined in legislation."

But AnnaLise Trudell of ANOVA, an organization that helps and shelters abused women, says that although it's good to see that the board is seeking community input and expertise, this step misses the mark in terms of prevention. 

"It's trying to give police new tools as it relates to femicide and that's a good intention and cause, but we know this is going to need so much more," she said. "There's huge challenges relating to probation and information sharing across different agencies."

Instead, she alluded to a recent inquest that made 86 recommendations to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV) following the 2015 murders of three women in Renfrew County, Ont. 

Trudell says the recommendations laid out are a good roadmap for what's necessary to address femicide. They include: broadcasting the names of people charged with crimes against women, and for police to seek out those individuals with multiple IPV charges, along with having programs to ensure they don't reoffend.  

Tracking statistics and motivation 

Trudell believes tracking femicide in Ontario has been imperfect due to the complexities of gathering information and linking it to a motive.

"Data is incredibly powerful and useful because that allows us to identity trends both positive and negative, and improve," she added. 

According to Walker, femicide-related statistics are extremely important in understanding who the perpetrators are and to see if the victims are targeted based on their gender.   

"Statistics specific to femicide tell the public that it may be hate motivated and sends a strong message to the community that women across our country are being murdered for no other reason than their gender," she said. "I think that's a really important message to send."

However, Trudell says that the burden of proof linking femicide to hate may or may not be helpful but the focus should instead be on the many preventative interventions. 

"There could be trickiness around proving it, you'd have to prove that not only did he murder her, but he did so because he hated her as a women," she said. 

But Walker says hate-motivated charges will reflect the definition of femicide that goes into the Criminal Code, which she hopes the can be implemented soon. 

"I think the LPS can play a role in advocating for this along with the community and other organizations that have similar views," she said.

The public has until July 31 to weigh in, after which a final report will be presented at the board's September meeting, and recommendations from it will be sent to the federal government.