‘Political will does not seem to be there’: intimate partner violence victim advocate calls out province

A friend of a Saanich mother who was found dead in January says the province is not doing enough to address intimate partner violence (IPV).

She is responding to the newest IPV report by B.C.’s chief coroner, claiming that the majority of the 135 victims in the last ten years could have been saved with better government coordination.

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Dr. Laura Gover, a 41-year-old researcher and mother of two, was found dead in her home earlier this year, and her ex-husband was charged with second-degree murder.

Kelsea McLaughlin, a friend of Gover, says the report proves that the provincial government’s response to address the issue is inadequate.

She explains that the recommendations the chief coroner made in Monday’s report to prevent IPV are a repetition of previous reports, claiming that none of the advice has been taken seriously.

“The recommendations from the last two are very similar to the ones in this one,” McLaughlin told 1130 NewsRadio.

“I hear things like the government saying they are committed to steady and meaningful change and progress. Progress for what? Because the details haven’t changed. But the political will does not seem to be there.”

She calls out a lack of accountability and says that the province often defaults to launching committees, which only delay meaningful change.

“I don’t want Laura and other women who have died in the last 25 years to have to be a footnote in yet the next iteration of this report,” McLaughlin said.

She echoes a similar critique made by Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS), an organization working to end violence against women.

“There is no enforcement, there are no consequences for system failure. There is no mandated risk response. There are really no structural interventions that are meaningful,” said Angela Marie McDougall, BWSS executive director.

According to the report, women are disproportionately affected by IPV, with 76 per cent of all victims being female.

– With files from Raynaldo Suarez.