Time to go public about domestic abuse

The time has come for domestic abuse and femicide to come out of the shadows and Canadians need to find out the real terror and often tragic outcomes associated with these once-only whispered issues.

That was one of several blunt observations made by Dr. Peter Jaffe during his second day of testimony on Thursday, June 9 during the Culleton/Kuzyk/Warmerdam inquest into the 2015 murders of three Ottawa Valley women at the hands of well-known offender Basil Borutski.

The inquest, scheduled to run 15 days, is taking place at the Best Western Hotel in Pembroke and came about as a result of a discretionary order made through the chief coroner’s office. Under the guidance of the presiding officer Leslie Reaume, the five-member community jury will issue a verdict and set of recommendations, including how to find a better way to protect survivors of domestic violence in rural communities.

The recommendations are forwarded on to the province and the various ministries involved and named in the recommendations may or may not be carried out at the discretion of the province.

Dr. Jaffe’s, a recent director at the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women & Children, reviewed nearly 10,000 documents in the murderer's case said his comments and recommendations highlights the need for more public education about domestic violence and its early warning flags.

“This issue can’t stay in the shadows and one way to help is to advertise,” he said. “Perhaps the Ontario government should air some ads about intimate partner violence during some big and widely-viewed events such as the Stanley Cup playoffs or other events that can draw audiences in the millions.”

Jaffe noted that was only one, but a symbolic way to get the message out about a subject that makes people feel uncomfortable.

This can be compared to the issue of mental health. Up until recently, it was also an issue nobody wanted to talk about in public due to the stigma. It remained hidden until some influential body (Bell) gets out in front and begins to encourage active dialogue like Bell did and continues to do with its “Let’s Talk” annual campaign.

“Violence against women is still not a very popular issue. Nobody really wants to talk about it. And we don't address it as fully as we could and should,” he said.

Panelists offer recommendations

Although the task of making recommendations is up to the jury, Dr. Jaffe, along Pamela Cross, who appeared earlier in the week as a witness, offered some suggestions for the jury to consider as they fear from further witnesses.

Stronger supervision

Jaffe said much stronger supervision is needed.

“We are not playing the blame-game, but the province needs to step up and enhance their probation services and policies,” he said.

He said weekly check-ins with people on probation should become common policy and increased contact with victims helps both the victim and supervisor. They can help determine the mental and emotional state of the victims and also spot any potential red flags.

Sustainable funding

Earlier this week, the jury heard from some directors of organizations designed to help victims of domestic abuse and how the directors are spending more resource time trying to raise money to keep the lights on instead of using their skill-set to offer help and support for these victims.

Pamela Cross, one of Ontario’s leading attorney’s in domestic abuse cases and who spent several weeks in focus groups across the Ottawa Valley prior to the inquest, said there must be sustainable funding organizations set up to help in these cases.

“Government funding of services for women and children has allowed shelters for abused victims to operate without constant scrambling for the basic money to operate,” Cross said. “There needs to be sustainable funding across Canada that recognizes the complexity of intimate partner violence.” 

Background on abusers

As Jaffe mentioned the day before, there is no mechanism in place to allow an individual involved with a potential abuser to check them out ahead of time. However, in 2021, Alberta brought into law “Clare’s Law,” and allow somebody to go to their local police service and ask for information about somebody they're involved with, including new dating partners.

Modern training

Jaffe and Cross agreed that this case illustrated a much greater need from the provincial government to improve training on intimate partner violence for all police officers, Crown attorneys and probation officers.

He noted in this case, especially since both Nathalie Warmerdam and Anastasia Kuzyk testified against him in a criminal trial that he would be a high risk to any witness once he was released from prison. 

“Police officers, crowns and probation clearly identified [the killer] as high risk in the years prior to the homicides,” Jaffe wrote.