A new report says gender‑based violence should be declared an epidemic in B.C., and offers several recommendations for the province to better address the issue.
The 250‑page report from Dr. Kim Stanton, former head of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, makes nine sweeping system‑wide recommendations, and several more recommendations for the legal system.
Attorney General Nikki Sharma said Tuesday that 94 per cent of sexual‑assault survivors do not report the incident to police, and 84 per cent of survivors of intimate‑partner violence do not report it.
“Too often, survivors don’t feel safe coming forward. They fear not being believed, re‑traumatized, or dismissed,” said Sharma.
In May 2024, she appointed Stanton to conduct an independent review of how B.C.’s justice system can better address gender‑based violence.
“Gender‑based violence has been normalized… but it shouldn’t be,” said Stanton. She said data suggest a third of women and girls in B.C. over the age of 15 have experienced sexual violence, and nearly half have experienced intimate‑partner violence.
The report says there were 21 femicides across B.C. in 2024. It also highlights the case of Vanessa Renteria, a refugee woman who had sought help from her abusive spouse and was later killed by Surrey RCMP during an altercation at her home.
Report highlights repeat recommendations over decades
A 2012 report by former policy analyst Linda Light looked at key recommendations made in reports produced over the previous three decades. It noted that reports on gender‑based violence repeated the same messages and recommendations. Stanton said many of the same themes still apply to her 2025 report, and she wants to break the cycle of repeated recommendations with few positive outcomes for survivors.
The review identified four barriers to systemic change: 1) a lack of collaboration among government, institutions and community services; 2) insufficient analysis of how initiatives affect marginalized survivors; 3) a lack of accountability in implementing previous recommendations; and 4) fears about high costs associated with systemic reform.
When it comes to concerns about costs associated with the recommendations, “the reality is that inaction is also extremely expensive—in both human and economic terms,” said Stanton in the report.
The report includes the following recommendations for the B.C. government:
- Declare that gender‑based violence is a provincial epidemic.
- Create a strong internal government accountability mechanism.
- Appoint an independent gender‑based violence commissioner.
- Prioritize support for prevention initiatives, including public education, to reduce and prevent violence before it escalates to the point of engaging the legal system.
- Strengthen established anti‑violence, community‑based organizations across the province.
‘An epidemic’
The report says declaring gender‑based violence a provincial epidemic would reflect the urgency and scale of the issue.
The United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples reported in 2014 that the rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada are “epidemic.”
Stanton’s report notes other jurisdictions have referred to gender‑based violence as an epidemic, including in Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Councillors in Prince George, B.C., passed a motion in May 2024 to declare the issue an epidemic in their community.
Recommendations for the legal system include a range of amendments to the Family Law Act, and engagement with Indigenous partners to implement Indigenous justice strategies.
The report highlights some positive steps taken in the province, including government funding for five new sexual‑assault centres in Victoria, Prince George, Surrey, Vancouver and Kamloops.
It also credits 2023 legislation establishing processes to stop non‑consensual distribution of intimate images, as well as several enhancements to legal aid for family law last year.
The B.C. government released a Gender‑Based Violence Action Plan in 2023. Jennifer Blatherwick, parliamentary secretary for gender equity, says the plan is designed as a “whole‑of‑government, cross‑ministry” approach.
“As much work as we have underway, I still worry that we need to do more, and we need to go faster,” said Blatherwick.
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