Part 1: We remember, We Learn, We Resolve.
[Stay tuned for Part 2 of our blog tomorrow on Reasons for Hope]
Today marks 4 years since the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history started in Portapique, Nova Scotia. Premier Tim Houston has asked that we all take a moment of silence at noon on April 18th and 19th to remember. Over 13 hours and these 2 days, the gunman escaped detection to kill 22 people in multiple communities. The tragedy left a gaping wound among the families, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, first responders and entire communities, in ways that time does not heal. The deep grief and shock of those days was complicated by political wrangling over whether and what type of inquiry would be held, and then the intensive and excruciating proceedings of the Mass Casualty Commission Inquiry.
The Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) was the public inquiry into this tragedy that resulted in a 7-volume, 3000-page report of 130 recommendations for improved incident response for police, health, and public safety partners, but also to address the broader root causes of violence, missed warning signs, gaps and system errors, and greater support for prevention and community safety /wellbeing.
Significantly, the MCC made very clear and inarguable connections between mass casualty incidents and gender-based violence (GBV). Perpetrators, overwhelmingly men, of mass violence often have histories of and/or are perpetrators of gender-based, intimate partner, and/or family violence. While most perpetrators of GBV do not go on to commit mass killings, the evidence overwhelmingly supports that the majority of mass casualty incidents are preceded by an incident(s) of and/or a history of GBV. And GBV in isolation is a far-reaching social ill – endemic and insidious.
The commission concluded that this tragedy was a result of “our collective, social and institutional failures to perceive and respond effectively to gender-based, intimate partner and family violence.” [1] And the result of these failures impacted more than the perpetrator but extended to his abused partner, all of the victims, their families, communities, first responders and many other vulnerabilized victims he coerced and abused over years.
If we prioritize the prevention of and an end to GBV – the rates of which have not changed in decades, the impacts of which affect everyone - we will also prevent the more rare phenomena of mass violence.
The commission emphasizes the need to prioritize and fund a public health approach over our current tendency to default to carceral responses to violence and GBV, often causing more harm and no resolution. We need to understand and address the root causes of violence – poverty, inequality, including fostering healthy masculinities in our public and social policy priorities and funding. The social determinants of health and wellbeing are also the social determinants of community safety.
Creating and maintaining the conditions of community safety cannot be restricted to the responsibility of police but must involve a cross-sector, whole of society response. Public safety is everyone’s responsibility, including individuals and community partners who address social development, prevention, early intervention, and incident response. And these partners, including importantly – the GBV advocacy and support sector, need to be funded accordingly, equitably, sustainably, and to a degree that is “commensurate with the scale of the problem.” [2]
The GBV advocacy and support sector is not only chronically underfunded but is the front line to some of the most complex and urgent care needs in our province. Those affected by GBV are also commonly contending with higher rates of poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, addiction and current or historic trauma. GBV affects everyone, but women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people are at greatest vulnerability and GBV disproportionately impacts Indigenous, African Nova Scotian, immigrant, and newcomer women/gender diverse people. Women with a disability are three times more likely to experience violent victimization than women living without a disability. [3]
The systems meant to respond to GBV – like the justice, health and child protection systems, continue to fail and retraumatize survivours. Yet, the GBV sector of essential, trauma-informed and culturally responsive services has to constantly cobble together a suite of services and programming within restrictive, time limited and competitive project funding. These conditions contribute directly to sector burn out, staff turnover, reduced capacity and an unwell sector.
But there are other community and system possibilities to seed, support and resource that we know work. So as we reflect, mourn and remember today and tomorrow (and ongoing), let us also consider how we can embrace the whole of society response called for by the Commission, our individual and collective roles in advancing what is needed to prevent and respond to GBV. Investing in the prevention of GBV is an investment in our collective safety and wellbeing directly contributes to the prevention of future mass tragedies. Never again.
Stay tuned for more in Part 2 of our blog tomorrow on “Reasons for Hope” as we continue to commemorate and honour the victims, survivours and all those impacted by these events 4 years ago.
Turning the Tide Together: Final Report of the Mass Casualty Commission. Executive Summary, page 88, (2022).
Turning the Tide Together: Final Report of the Mass Casualty Commission. Executive Summary, page 171, (2022).
Gender-Based Violence in Canada, Learn the Facts. Canadian Women’s Foundation. (2021).