Ella Does Squamish

Press Release

TORONTO, Oct. 4 /CNW/ - YWCA Toronto, the city’s largest multi-service organization by, for and about women and girls is stunned by the 64th and 65th murders of the year, two women both under the age of 30, but is not surprised that not one political candidate has addressed how his party will work to end violence against women in the province.

One victim, Jocelyn Dulnuan, a 27-year-old woman living as domestic worker in a tony Mississauga neighbourhood, the other 25-year-old Aysuen Sesen, was seven months pregnant when she was allegedly stabbed to death by her common law husband.
    
The details of these crimes speak to the overwhelming swell of systemic violence against women in our city, and a missed
opportunity for Ontario’s provincial candidates to address the issue of violence against women in their campaigns.

In fact, party leaders have been conspicuously silent on issues of violence against women, focusing instead on publicly
decrying gangs, guns and the importance of community crime prevention, rather than addressing the root
causes of woman abuse - including inadequate affordable housing, income inequality, and lack of access to affordable child care.

"At YWCA Toronto we see causes of violence against women as they affect each of the services we provide," says YWCA Toronto Chief
Executive Officer Heather McGregor. "We see the connections between abuse and the factors that
prevent women from leaving abusive partners including insufficient post- shelter funding; inadequate access to safe,
affordable and permanent housing; and the overwhelming lack of affordable, high-quality childcare.

With a week left before Ontarians head to the polls, what are the parties’
positions on the development of a more effective domestic violence action plan?"

Some facts to consider from YWCA Canada (www.ywcacanada.ca):

     -   In Ontario, between 1995 and 2005, 231 women were
murdered by their partners or former partners, many of whom then
killed themselves.

     -   From January to November 2006, 24 women and 12
children in Ontario were murdered in acts of violence against women.   Unfortunately, these numbers - in Ontario and across Canada, are not decreasing;
     -   Canada’s more than 550 shelters for battered women
remain full; many with waiting lists;
     -   According to a recently released study by
Statistics Canada, approximately one in ten abused women use a
shelter;
     -   The same report found that approximately 100,000
women and children used battered women’s shelters in the 12 month
period beginning April 12, 2005;
     -   Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review
Committee, which reports to the Office of the Chief Coroner, noted in its 2004
report that 100% of the victims in the cases it reviewed were women
and 91% of the perpetrators were men, concluding that domestic
violence is not gender neutral. The most common risk factor was
actual or pending separation, followed closely by a prior history of
violence, which was present in 8 of the 11 cases reviewed by the
committee in its first year.

     The brutal murders of Jocelyn Dulnuan and Aysuen Sesen
serve to remind all Ontarians that the root causes of violence against
women deserve the same media and political attention given to other aspects of the
provincial election campaign.

YWCA Toronto urges provincial candidates to hear this
message and begin to address in their platforms the conditions that trap women
and children in violent homes. Adequate child care, employment supports, anti-discrimination laws, affordable and permanent housing,
and an end to the baby bonus clawback are just some of the issues that
parties should be focusing on in the remaining campaign period.

Between October 15-20th YWCA Toronto will host its 11th annual Week
Without Violence, a weeklong series of free events throughout the GTA aimed at
eradicating violence and envisioning peaceful communities.
For more information visit
www.weekwithoutviolence.com

For information or to arrange an interview contact
Corinne Rusch-Drutz,
Director of Advocacy & Communications, 416.961.8101. x
350

     October 14 to 20, 2007
     Imagine a Week Without Violence
     www.weekwithoutviolence.com