Murder of woman and three children drives call to declare intimate partner violence epidemic in Sault Ste. Marie

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City councillors in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., will vote Monday on whether to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in their community, where a gunman killed a woman and three children this week.

“I am tired of hearing of women across this province and country being killed in domestic disputes and that’s a huge reason why I want this call to action to be taken really seriously,” said city councillor Angela Caputo, who put forward the council motion.

In addition to calling on council to declare an intimate partner violence epidemic – as dozens of Ontario municipalities have also done – it also calls on Mayor Matthew Shoemaker to urge Premier Doug Ford to do the same, in the wake of this week’s tragedy. The provincial government rejected a recommendation from a coroner’s inquest to make such a declaration.

The mass killing in Sault Ste. Marie – which local police described as a case of intimate partner violence – began shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Monday, when 44-year-old gunman Bobbie Hallaert shot and killed 41-year-old Angie Sweeney in her home.

Minutes later, Mr. Hallaert went to a second home a short drive away, where he is listed as a co-owner of the property. There he wounded a second woman, aged 45, and killed three children – aged 12, 7 and 6 – before turning the gun on himself.

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The case has sent ripples of grief through the city of roughly 77,000 along the Canada-U.S. border, where police typically investigate between one and four homicide cases each year.

But intimate partner violence and domestic disputes are commonplace, generating an average of more than 1,500 calls to Sault Ste. Marie Police each year.

Ms. Caputo stresses that police statistics are an undercount, pointing to research that has shown upwards of 80 per cent of domestic violence goes unreported.

Christine Simpson, chair of the Algoma Council on Domestic Violence, said formally labelling this violence as an epidemic would send a strong signal about the urgency of the crisis.

“It lets people who are experiencing violence know that we stand with them, we know that it’s happening,” said Ms. Simpson, who works as a registered nurse in Sault-area hospitals, with a focus on intimate partner violence.

“And for the people that are perpetrating the violence, it lets you know that we see you, we know that it’s happening – and we want the offenders to seek help as well.”

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During a Friday evening vigil in Sault Ste. Marie, the father of Ms. Sweeney vowed to start a movement to put a stop to intimate partner violence in Ontario.

“I’m going to ask our Mr. Ford if he could find some day time of day to get a conversation going,” Brian Sweeney said. “I have a few suggestions…I think I can point him in the right direction.”

And in an extraordinary gesture, Mr. Sweeney brought the mother of the gunman onto the stage with him and embraced her.

“She lost a child as I have lost a child,” he said. “She deserves the same respect I do because we both feel the same pain.”

Mr. Ford has faced calls to declare an intimate partner epidemic in Ontario since last year, when it emerged as the first recommendation from a jury at an inquest into a triple-femicide in rural Renfrew County. The provincial government rejected that recommendation. More than 60 municipalities across Ontario have made the declaration at the local level, and the federal government has also done so in official correspondence.

In an e-mail Friday, Mr. Shoemaker said he supports the proposal.

“This week’s tragedy reinforces the need to do everything we can to address this crisis and create a safer community. I know the Renfrew Inquest found that violence of this nature is at epidemic levels across Ontario and I have no hesitation accepting their facts as the starting point for the discussion we’ll have at the City Council meeting on Monday,” he wrote.

“With an increasing number of municipalities making declarations of this nature, I am hopeful it will demonstrate the severity of the issue for the Province and lead to increased support.”

Sault. Ste. Marie Police Chief Hugh Stevenson has also expressed support for a declaration.

On average, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every six days in Canada. With attempted murders included, the figure becomes one almost every other day.

Between 2018 and 2022, the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability has tracked 850 killings of women or girls. In 2022 alone, there were 184 – numbers have been steadily increasing since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Norma Elliott, a director at Women In Crisis of Algoma, said they too have seen an increase in both call volume and shelter occupancy at the local level. In 2018-19, they received roughly 2,000 calls a year. Last year, they received 3,275 calls.

She is hopeful that Monday’s motion will pass unanimously. But the big question for her now is what the province will do.

“It would be great if the province would come out and say that they are declaring IPV an epidemic, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough now,” Ms. Elliott said.

“You can’t be the 70th person to do this and not have something else to provide. Your chance to just declare that was in June.”

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