Lanark County declares femicide an epidemic

By Anil Jhalli

An eastern Ontario community is the first in the province of Ontario to declare femicide an epidemic, a move that is being applauded by representatives of the Lanark County Interval House and Community Support. 

It's been seven years of the Wilno murders when three women were killed in three separate locations in the Ottawa Valley by the same man. 

Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam were all murdered on Sept. 22, 2015 by the same man who has been convicted and sentenced to prison. 

 A five person jury into the inquest into the murders, which took place earlier this year, made a series of recommendations to prevent similar killings in the future. 

The five-person jury selected for the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of 66-year-old Carol Culleton, 36-year-old Anastasia Kuzyk and 48-year-old Nathalie Warmerdam came up with 86 recommendations. 

The number one recommendation put forward is to have the provincial government formally declare intimate partner violence as an epidemic. 

“There is movement and there is hope,” said Erin Lee, the executive director of the Lanark County Intervak House on The Sam Laprade Show on Dec. 20. “This is a big step and it shows small communities can make changes.”

Lee brought the idea of the motion to Lanark council last week, and it passed. 

This comes after police charged a 41-year-old man with second-degree murder in the killing of Sommer Boudreau a 39-year-old Deep River woman.

She is the third Renfrew County woman killed by a man in 2022. 

Lee is encouraging other municipalities across the province to pass the same resolution and hopes the province will respond and follow recommendations provided by the five person jury earlier this year during the inquest into the deaths of the three Ottawa Valley women. 

Listen to the full interview with Erin Lee below:

 

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