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Focus on public health effects of family violence especially key in economically-depressed areas

[Calgary non-profit HomeFront has seen a 28 per cent increase in domestic violence cases over its five-year average. Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images]

The latest federal public health report focuses on family violence across Canada, a problem experts say is particularly acute in provinces with slumping economies.

It’s the first time the annual report has focused specifically on family violence, something Canada’s chief public health officer, Gregory Taylor, says is a serious public health problem across the country.

“Despite the work of many researchers, health care professionals, organizations and communities, we still do not have a good understanding of why family violence happens, nor do we know how best to intervene,” Taylor wrote in the report, tabled Thursday.

Though not examined extensively in the report, history has shown that domestic violence is more likely in families experiencing financial hardships and during times of recession, making family violence an issue of particular importance in parts of the country experiencing an economic downturn, particularly Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

“The economy itself is not the cause, but it certainly is an added stressor,” HomeFront Calgary executive director Maggie MacKillop told Yahoo Canada News. “If people don’t have healthy coping mechanisms sometimes that translates into domestic violence.”

Rising need has been seen in Alberta, where the economy has been hit by lower oil prices and last spring’s wildfire in Fort McMurray.

“We are busy, I will say that,” MacKillop said. “We’re anticipating looking at or addressing 3,500 domestic violence incidences in 2016, and I think that represents about a 28 per cent increase over the five-year average.” HomeFront expects those numbers to hold steady at least through 2020, MacKillop said.

Figures released at the end of last year showed that violent crime was up 12 per cent in Edmonton despite an overall national drop in violent crimes, with sexual assaults specifically up more than 14 per cent.

And in June of this year the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters released data showing that shelter demand remained steady in the province over the previous year, with Indigenous women over-represented among the shelter population. The worst could be yet to come, the report warned, as people in violent family situations get increasingly desperate.

“Some shelters sense that the full impact from the economic downturn is just around the corner, as many women fleeing violence tend to go to a shelter only when the abuse has escalated to the point where they fear for their lives,” the agency said in a release about the June report.

Transition House Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (THANL) provincial coordinator Dan Meades told Yahoo Canada News those problems are showing up in his province.

“About half of our shelters are over capacity today,” Meades said. “That’s not an especially common thing, but that’s where we are right now.”

And both MacKillop and Meades say they’re seeing an increase not only in the number of cases seen but also their complexity, which spreads resources particularly thin. More than usual, the cases coming THANL’s attention involve uncontrolled addictions and mental-health problems, he said. And HomeFront has seen a 70 per cent increase in assaults with a weapon in Calgary, MacKillop said.

“There seems to be higher risk and higher complexity to the domestic violence files that we’re seeing right now,” MacKillop said.

It’s also important to remember that it’s not only police and shelters on the front lines of identifying domestic assault, MacKillop said. Often it’s not police officers but health care workers treating injuries, or even seeing patients for other reasons, who first notice the signs of family violence.

“Not everybody calls the police,” MacKillop said. “There are other touchpoints out there.”

And because about 70 per cent of incidents of spousal violence are never reported to police, according to the report, their knowledge about the problem only covers so much ground.

But some forces are increasing their efforts to reach those affected by family violence by dedicating staff to the problem. Out east the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary’s Intimate Partner Violence Unit provides support to those experiencing domestic violence and trains officers to best handle those situations, local radio station VOCM reports. And in Cochrane, Alta. the RCMP created a domestic violence co-ordinator position in January 2016.

“There is a lot of domestic violence in the area – the recession is probably not helping,” co-ordinator Cst. Courtney Currie said in a release announcing the new role.

THANL is seeing the effects of rising family violence all across the province, Meades said. The association has shelters and transition houses from the capital city to the northern coast of Labrador, and the need is rising in every area, he said.

“Honestly, there’s no surprise here. In fact, we predicted this,” he said.

When the Newfoundland and Labrador government brought forward a provincial budget earlier this year that cut spending and increased taxes and levies, THANL warned that agencies like theirs, and the vulnerable populations they serve, would be affected.

“We’re not surprised,” he said. “And the government of Newfoundland and Labrador shouldn’t be surprised either.”

The facts

Every four days a woman in Canada is killed by a family member. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016)

131 Canadians were killed by a family member in 2014. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016)

There were 133,920 reported victims of dating or family violence in 2014 in Canada. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016)

223 Canadians each day are victims of violent incidents that are reported to police. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016)

Only three in 10 Canadians who experienced spousal violence said police were notified. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016)

Seven in 10 reported cases of family violence in Canada involve women and girls. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016)

About 9 million Canadians have reported experiencing abuse before they turn 15 years old. (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2016)

Victims of spousal violence were less likely to report it to police in 2009 than in 2004. (Statistics Canada)

Just 22 per cent of incidents of spousal violence were reported to the police in 2009. (Statistics Canada)

Seventeen per cent of Canadians reported being the victim of emotional or financial abuse in a current or previous relationship in 2004. (Statistics Canada)

Every year Canadians spend an estimated $7.4 billion dealing with the financial consequences of spousal violence. (Canadian Women’s Foundation)