Since forming government in 2001, the B.C. Liberal government has watered down policies designed to protect women suffering from domestic violence and abuse, fallen short on providing the resources to investigate the murders and missing women on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and the Highway of Tears, and failed to act on recommendations stemming from the 2007 Oak Bay murder-suicide of the Lee family.
Although Solicitor General Kash Heed recently announced new measures to tackle domestic violence, including a new death review panel, $25,000 for a domestic violence unit in Greater Victoria, and some changes to the bail system, the announcements fall far short of what is needed to protect women and children in B.C., and won’t undo the damage wreaked by the government’s cuts to front-line services.
There are several concrete steps that the B.C. Liberal government could take to end violence against women and children in BC. To start with, the government must restore the $1.2 million they plan to cut from transition houses and victim services in 2010, and restore funding to women’s centres that can offer counselling, referral, and other frontline services to women in need across the province. Restoring funding to vital legal aid services, and fully funding dedicated domestic violence courts, would also go a long way to protecting women and children from family violence.
Unfortunately, the government has shown repeatedly that it is not committed either to B.C. women’s safety or equality. Time and again, the government has repealed legislation protecting the rights of women and has cut programs and services that supported vulnerable women, most recently cutting funding to a special crown prosecutor that worked with the RCMP to address cases of domestic violence.
The B.C. Liberal government should resolve to take a hard look at the direction they’ve taken and the consequences to women across the province.
