In September 2024, the Nova Scotia Government passed Bill 482, declaring intimate partner violence (IPV) an epidemic in Nova Scotia. Since then, seven women have been killed in Nova Scotia by their intimate partners.
When these tragedies hit close to home, as one such case did in Mahone Bay in early January 2025, it shatters families, friends and whole communities.
The shock and grief are both deeply personal and also a collective community experience. So must be how we respond to prevent these harms.
Nova Scotia has the highest rates of self-reported IPV in Canada and the highest provincial rates of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of youth.
The province is also home to the worst single-shooter mass casualty in Canadian history, when on April 18 and 19, 2020, a man outfitted as an RCMP officer killed 22 people starting in Portapique.
For almost two decades, the individual responsible for those killings regularly abused and threatened his long- time intimate partner and exploited other vulnerable women through his denturist practice. He grew up in a household where domestic violence took place.
We can no longer look away.
What was once considered “private” violence, occurring in the privacy of the home, can and does spill into public spaces and workplaces, putting the lives of many more people at risk.
The report Turning the Tide Together, stemming from the Mass Casualty Commission, calls for a “whole of society” response to tackle the public health crisis of men’s violence against women, girls and gender-diverse people.
Everyone has a role to play in learning about the issue, spreading public awareness, and noticing the signs of violence or abuse in relationships.
It is important to note that most men are not violent. But violence toward women, girls, queer, and trans people, as well as other men, is primarily committed by males.
In Canada, 93% of femicides (killing of women) are committed by men. About 83% of perpetrators of IPV are men, and some 97% of perpetrators of sexual violence are men.
While women’s violence against men happens, it is less severe and more commonly initiated in self-defence.
There are many signs and signals that raise alarms about a person’s safety. These may include:
- physical or sexualized violence, like hitting, slapping, kicking, pushing, forcing sex without consent or without contraception;
- strangulation or choking, which are high risk indicators;
- emotional abuse, like humiliation, repeated name calling, shaming, extreme jealousy;
- threats of violence to a person, their children, pets or family members, or threatening suicide;
- more subtle and potentially lethal behaviours that are grouped under the term “coercive control” include: stalking; monitoring and controlling a person’s movements, phone calls, texts, whereabouts, what they wear, what they do, who they see or engage with; isolating another from family, friends and supports; controlling all the finances, passwords and decisions; manipulating, gaslighting and blaming one’s anger or unhappiness on a partner.
These are all causes for concern in a relationship and may, in fact, be crimes. If there is a history of using violence against others, and if these form a pattern of behavior over time, they can be very dangerous and even lethal, especially if there is access to firearms.
Together, we can decrease the rates, scope and prevalence of IPV in our province to improve the overall safety, health, well-being and productivity of all Nova Scotians.
If you or someone you know is experiencing these, help and support is available.
There is a 24/7 support line available by calling 1-855-225-0220 for advice about how to safely approach the people involved so it doesn’t make things worse. You can also call 211 for a variety of help lines, including mental health support.
If you are a man using violent or controlling behaviours in your relationship, there is non-judgemental help available for you too. You can call 211 for the Men’s Help Line.
In an emergency, please dial 911.
For more information online, you can visit https://women.novascotia.ca/domestic-violence-resource-centre or https://women.novascotia.ca/publications/neighbours-friends-and-families
This article was kindly provided by Be the Peace Institute, in cooperation and partnership with Bridgewater Police Service. Be the Peace Institute is a South Shore non-profit dedicated to addressing and ending the root causes of all forms of gender-based violence. Be the Peace Institute works closely with colleagues at Second Story Women’s Centre and Harbour House Transition House, which provide direct services and supports for women and gender-diverse people experiencing violence.
SOURCES
For more information about the sources used for the statistics on this page, you can visit:
https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/gender-based-violence/facts-stats.html
https://www.gbvlearningnetwork.ca/our-work/reports/report_2016_4.html
https://humanrights.ca/story/gender-based-violence-across-canada
