Madawaska Valley council may declare gender-based and intimate partner violence an epidemic.
If it does, it will join a growing number of governments in Ontario that have already done so, both for symbolic reasons, and to encourage more violence prevention initiatives and laws.
A motion has been prepared for council’s Tuesday, Nov. 21 meeting.
It not only calls for the declaration, but requests the province and federal government enact 85 recommendations from an inquest born out of three Renfrew County-based murders.
The 2015 deaths of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam at the hands of a man who knew them, led to what became known as the CKW Inquest. Its recommendations covered a range of topics, such as the need for more education on violence and more intervention measures.
In March, Renfrew County council made the declaration, on the advice of local groups. The Ontario government did not make the declaration, when asked to last June.