BEPPLE – ‘Intimate partner violence’ needs more of our attention

WHEN WE TALK of crime in Kamloops, we often think of break and entering, vehicle thefts, and assaults.

One that sometimes isn’t mentioned as much as it should be is Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). In Kamloops, in the first three months of 2023, the RCMP responded to 222 calls because of intimate partner violence.

That means, two or three times a day, the RCMP is responding to a request for help because of IPV.

Of the 222 calls, there were 36 charges resulting.

Intimate partner violence includes physical assault, criminal harassment (e.g. stalking), sexual assault, cyber violence, as well as other forms of abuse and coercive control.

According to Government of Canada websites, women are 3.5 times as likely to experience IPV. Between 2014 and 2019, 80 percent of victims of intimate partner homicides were women.

When we talk about reducing crime in Kamloops, the talk is typically around reducing property crime and assaults. Just as there are programs to decrease these types of crime, there needs to be programs to decrease intimate partner violence.

Intimate partner violence is a crime. The RCMP respond to intimidate partner violence calls because they are crimes. But responding is not enough. Reducing crime, including reducing IPV should be the goal.

The RCMP don’t just respond to calls for help in Intimate Partner Violence. They also work with service providers to connect victims to services.

Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre (KSACC) has been providing support for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and sexual harassment for over 40 years in Kamloops. There are two RCMP officers assigned to work directly with KSACC to support victims such as taking statements and collecting evidence. Not every victim wants to pursue charges, but if they do, the RCMP officers and KSACC support them through the court process.

Kamloops YMCA (now part of YMCA of British Columbia) offers intervention and support services for women and children facing violence including the Y Women’s Emergency Shelter, and outreach services for individuals wanting to navigate services individually.

Over the years, the City of Kamloops has provided financial support to both of these programs.

As much as the victims of intimate partner violence are supported, it is time to help perpetrators of violence to shift their behaviours. Locally, counsellors like Jeff Connors work to help men improve their lives to not just reduce rates of violence but also addiction rates, overdoses and suicides, all which are higher for men than women.

Shifting the behaviours of the perpetrators reduces the impacts on the victims. Going forward, the City of Kamloops should consider supporting more men’s programs that support healthier behaviours.

Having two or three incidents a day of intimate partner violence in Kamloops is two or three too many. It’s good that the RCMP can respond, but ongoing, we need to ensure the services that support the victims continue to be supported financially, and that there are programs in place to help shift behaviours of the perpetrators.

If our goal is reducing crime, then our goal must also be to reduce intimidate partner violence.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.