Ottawa police data shows rise of intimate partner violence in 2025

There was a 6 per cent increase in the number of incidents of intimate partner violence in the nation’s capital year-over-year.

Ottawa police detail that there were 7,840 intimate partner violence incidents reported, where the vast majority (80 per cent) of victims are women or girls. Officials said they are releasing the data to bring “awareness about the increasing rates of violence against women in our community.”

Of the thousands of incidents, there were 2,626 charges laid. Reports detail both criminal and non-criminal incidents, police explained in the press release.

The numbers are equal to about an average of 21 calls per day related to intimate partner violence. This is an increase from an average of 18 calls a day in 2024.

The most common violations seen in 2025 were:

• Assault-partner level 1
• Breach under recognizance-partner
• Assault w/weapon or cause bodily harm level 2
• Harass communications-partner
• Utter threats to persons-partner

Data from police shows that a large number of victims (49 per cent) are between the ages of 30 and 45 years old. The second-largest group (30 per cent) are between the ages of 18 and 29 years old.

Four femicides in 2025

Four homicides last year in which women were targeted are at the forefront of the increasing rise of violence seen in Ottawa.

Police describe femicide as “the killing of women and girls because of their gender.” In 2024, Ottawa police were the first force in Canada to use the term, hoping to recognize the increasing epidemic of violence.

The first femicide in 2025 happened on April 1 when police were called to Henry Street. They identified the victim as Renee Descary, 51, and charged Oliver Denia, 24, with second-degree murder.

On April 6, police were called to Bentbrook Crescent in Barrhaven. Inside the home, police found 61-year-old Brenda Rus deceased.

Robert Rus appeared in court facing charges of first-degree murder.

May 26, Ottawa police charged a 35-year-old man with the alleged murder of a missing woman whose body may have ended up in a local landfill. 

Police say the Ottawa man faces charges of second-degree murder and indignity to a dead body.

Investigators say 54-year-old Rachelle Desrochers has not been found, but they have reason to believe she was killed and that her body may be in a landfill.

Police are still looking to find the remains of Desrochers.

The final femicide happened on June 2  in the neighbourhood of Emerald Woods-Sawmill Creek, just off Albion Road in the south end.

There, officers found the body of Tracey Duncan, 54, of Ottawa. As a result, Stephen Doane, 57, of Ottawa, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.