Advocate perplexed by lack of consultation for campaign on domestic violence

A new public awareness campaign to combat intimate partner violence is leaving one advocate wondering why she wasn’t consulted.

Saskatchewan’s “Face the issue” campaign was announced by Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Office Laura Ross last week. The six-week public awareness campaign aims to inform young people about potential red flags of abusive relationships through a series of videos shared on social media.

But Jo-Anne Dusel, executive director of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan (PATHS) said she only heard about the new phase of the campaign after it was rolled out.

“We are known as leaders – even across Canada – in research related to intimate partner violence,” she said. “So it is a little perplexing when PATHS doesn’t know and none of our members know that a campaign is even taking place, and certainly weren’t given the opportunity to provide input.”

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement it’s consulted with dozens of groups, including PATHS, generally on preventing and responding to interpersonal violence and abuse, and used those consultations to develop things like this campaign.

Not reaching far enough

Dusel said the government’s social media approach is a good idea, but the age group being targeted – those between 18 and 24 – leaves out many younger victims.

“Stats Canada, the age group that they use for youth is 12 to 24, and that age group feels the highest rates for experiencing intimate partner violence,” she said. “So if you want to prevent violence from taking place, you need to work with people far younger than 18.”

She also said that the videos could do more to inform victims about where they can go for help.

“That wasn’t really terribly clear to me, how we’re making sure that people who see those videos are getting really good information and resources that they can pick up on,” Dusel said.

“Things might have been different if they had consulted people who do this work every day; the people who are the experts.”

Domestic violence ‘an epidemic’ in Sask.

According to Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan has the highest rates of intimate partner violence in the country. Since 2019, the rate has only increased from the previous year.

“It’s somewhere between two and three times the national average,” Dusel said

“The northeast part of Saskatchewan actually has the highest per-capita rates of any region in Canada have intimate partner violence.”

She said rates spiked drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic, making the situation more urgent.

“Our agencies in Saskatchewan and those across the country were receiving more phone calls for support, and the calls they were receiving were describing more severe forms of violence,” she said.

“I’m pretty sure that would be considered an epidemic or a pandemic. I do believe it fits that description.”

At a news conference, Eyre was asked multiple times whether she agreed with the claim that intimate partner violence in Saskatchewan is an epidemic. Eyre avoided answering the question, but did acknowledge the need for more support.

“We take this issue extremely seriously as a very grave issue to the province, and to families and women and children in this province,” Eyre said.

The provincial government offers a number of resources for those who are experiencing abuse.

Editor’s Note: the story has been updated to include a response from the Ministry of Justice