Trudeau not ready to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic

While his visit to Sault Ste. Marie on Friday was focused on the successes at PUC and the Legion housing development, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was questioned on intimate partner violence in the wake of last month’s devastating shootings that claimed four innocent lives, including three children.

Shortly after the tragedy, Sault Police confirmed the incidents were the result of intimate partner violence. The gunman, who turned the weapon on himself, was investigated for domestic violence just days before the rampage.

“We were all grieving for the community and those beautiful children,” Trudeau said following a ribbon cutting ceremony at PUC headquarters. “We know that there is so much more to do to counter intimate partner violence.”

The prime minister said part of his government’s $200 billion investment in healthcare over the next ten years will be focused on better support for mental illness. In addition to launching a national action plan on gender-based violence, Trudeau said they’re also making it harder for people to access a firearm if they’ve been previously charged and convicted with intimate partner violence.

“We know there’s more to do around community supports, around community policing, which is why we’re continuing to invest in programs that are doing that,” he said. “But it’s all of society, all of government approach, that we have to have to make sure that tragedies like this no longer happen.”

Less than two weeks after city council declared intimate partner violence an epidemic in Sault Ste. Marie, which joined 63 other communities across the province who have already done so, Trudeau said he hasn’t shut the door on making that same declaration on a national level.

But as he noted during an exclusive interview with Village Media on Friday, he believes there are greater steps that should be taken first.

“I don't care as much about the headlines — declares an emergency — as opening up a new shelter, as moving forward on gun control,” he said. “Give me more headlines on supporting people facing intimate partner violence, better mental health supports for people struggling with addictions or mental health issues that could lead them down these horrific paths of taking the wrong kinds of actions.”

“Let's just get people doing it, and if it takes a declaration of emergency to get people to act, well okay,” he added. “But I'd rather just act and not have to wait for that.”

While the community continues to grieve, Trudeau said there has to be a shift in the way people treat the issue.

“You can't just fix (it) with a bumper sticker,” he said. “You have to actually build a strategy that's anchored in dignity and education and support. And you have to make sure that police is changing the way it engages, that the way we socialize people to what's acceptable, what's not.”

“How we raise our boys in particular is going to shift,” he added. “Also, how we raise our girls to not accept this. But also tangibly, how we make sure we're funding shelters properly so people have support.”