If you or someone you know is experiencing intimate partner violence, call the 24/7 toll-free Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 1-866-863-0511, or visit to find an emergency shelter near you.
A surge in the deaths of women from police-reported intimate partner violence shows what experts say has become an “epidemic” in Canada.
These cases come as Canada has seen a surge in intimate partner violence since 2018, and follow several high-profile cases of “femicide” — which the United Nations defines as “intentional killing with a gender-related motivation” against women or girls — which has put renewed public attention on gender-based violence.
“(Intimate partner) violence can often go unnoticed or is often minimized,” Ann de Ste Croix, executive director of the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia (THANS), said.
De Ste Croix told Global News that transition houses run by THANS provided services for roughly 4,500 women and children in 2024, a sharp increase from the nearly 4,000 helped in 2023.
In the past two weeks, four women have been killed, with police saying each was a victim of intimate partner violence. Last Monday, Ania Wardzala-Kaminski and her father were found dead in their home in Calgary a day after police said they were killed.
The same day in Edmonton, police said Ashley Burke had been found on a riverbank. Police announced Jan. 5 that a man had been charged in her death, which was considered an “intimate partner homicide.” Her daughter, however, stressed to Global News that her mother and the suspect knew one another but it “wasn’t a relationship by any means.”
Cora-Lee Smith and her father’s bodies were found on New Year’s Eve in Halifax after police allege her boyfriend shot and killed them.
And this past Sunday, Nova Scotia RCMP found two people dead in Mahone Bay, which they say was the result of intimate partner violence.
The partners in all but the Edmonton case were found dead as well.
Police-reported intimate partner violence increased by 13 per cent from 2018 to 2023, with a total of 123,319 victims reported to law enforcement across the country, according to Statistics Canada data published in October 2024.
That same data showed that from 2018 to 2023, intimate partner violence among those aged 25 to 64 increased by 22 per cent, with seniors 65 and older seeing a rise of 36 per cent.
What does intimate partner violence look like?
Intimate partner violence can include physical, emotional, financial and coercive control.
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Non-physical cues, like a person becoming increasingly isolated from seeing others, should be warning signs, along with showing signs of fear or anxiety around their partner, according to de Ste Croix.
Coercive control, such as if the person’s finances or actions appear to be controlled or their partner is checking their texts or telling them who they can or cannot speak to, is also a sign of intimate partner violence.
A private member’s bill in Parliament was introduced last year to make such controlling behaviour illegal, but it died in the Senate when Parliament was prorogued.
De Ste Croix said unexplained injuries or frequent trips to the hospital could also point to potential violence.
Intimate partner violence happens ‘year round,’ but holidays do see spike
Holidays, like Christmas or New Year’s, see an increase in reports of intimate partner violence, though advocates caution it is a year-round occurrence.
Adsum for Women and Children, which provides housing support in Halifax, saw multiple requests per week for a shelter bed into the holidays, shelter director Kassandra Myer said, as well as “diversion funding” to find safe housing.
With people home for the holidays, Amy Hertes, the team lead at Agape House shelter in Manitoba, said stress levels can rise for reasons such as planning festivities or buying gifts while staying on budget.
“People are struggling to make ends meet and so they’re struggling to put food on the table and they also want to make Christmas good for their kids,” Hertes said. “They might overstretch or maybe they have a partner who controls the budget and they went outside of the budget and now somebody is upset with them.”
According to de Ste Croix, financial stress, increased alcohol use, seasonal isolation and even family gatherings can all lead to the escalation of violence around the holidays.
But they could also lead to someone getting help, with Myer noting loved ones you haven’t seen in a while may notice a change.
“Maybe the one time you get to see them is that Christmas dinner and you’re picking up on some of those signs and you’re concerned for a loved one,” Myer said.
But action is needed by governments as well to make resources more accessible, advocates say.
The federal government first started working on a gender-based violence action plan in 2017 and implemented the 10-year National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence in 2022, with $539.3 million over five years to help provinces tackle the issue.
What that looks like after an upcoming federal election this year is unclear.
Nova Scotia declared intimate partner violence an epidemic in September 2024.
Manitoba in November expanded its electronic monitoring program for offenders in order to “support survivors of intimate partner violence.”
The Ontario NDP has presented a bill to declare intimate partner violence an “epidemic,” and sought support from the government in November for an immediate declaration.
But after the motion failed, Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity Charmaine Williams told reporters she did not want to “rush” the issue.
The bill from the NDP remains in the committee phase, with Williams’ ministry telling Global News it was looking forward to reviewing the committee’s report.
Scrutiny on police — both when officers are involved in intimate partner violence and how forces handle intimate partner violence cases more broadly — has also intensified in recent years.
Two months ago, RCMP in Nova Scotia faced criticism from the family of a woman killed by a man that the force later confirmed was one of its members. The initial press release had not labelled the case as intimate partner violence, which the force later acknowledged it was.
De Ste Croix said actions by governments, such as declaring epidemics, would help improve the support shelters and other organizations can support.
“We need some epidemic-level funding to do that work.”
—with files from Global News’ Melissa Ridgen, Rebecca Lau, Karen Bartko and Noor Ibrahim
