British Columbia is experiencing a devastating rise in femicide and intimate partner violence. Women are being killed in their homes, communities, and relationships at a rate that is both predictable and preventable.
At BWSS, we hear every day from survivors navigating 60 barriers to leaving abusive partners, barriers rooted in housing, poverty, legal inaction, social isolation, policing failures, immigration precarity, and systemic misogyny.
Femicide is not inevitable.
It is the result of policy choices, underinvestment, and systems designed without survivors in mind.
Drawing from decades of frontline experience, survivor expertise, and the urgent findings across multiple inquiries and reviews, including the Renfrew County Inquest, the Mass Casualty Commission, and BC’s own independent systemic review by Dr. Kim Stanton, BWSS has identified five essential actions the Province of British Columbia can take right now to save lives.
These actions do not require new discoveries.
They require the political will to implement what survivors have been calling for, for generations.
1. Establish Municipal Gender-Based Violence Task Forces
Femicide does not occur in isolation. It occurs in communities, across municipalities, and through predictable system failures, policing, housing, mental health, income security, child welfare, and the courts.
A municipal GBV Task Force brings together:
- survivors and survivor-serving organizations
- mayors and councils
- police leadership
- housing providers
- health and mental health systems
- Indigenous governance
- immigrant and refugee organizations
- education
- local businesses and community safety officials
- This is the model used globally to prevent femicide.
It is recommended by every major inquiry, including:
Renfrew County Inquest
Mass Casualty Commission
Kim Stanton’s BC systemic review
UN Special Rapporteurs
Municipalities are where social safety breaks down and where safety can be rebuilt.
A BC-wide commitment to municipal GBV Task Forces would create coordinated, accountable, community-rooted solutions that directly prevent violence and save lives.
2. Emergency Increase Funding for Frontline Services by 15%
Frontline anti-violence services in BC are critically underfunded.
BWSS alone has experienced a 25% increase in service requests over the past year.
Without adequate stabilization funding:
survivors wait longer for crisis support
high-risk cases go unmonitored
safety planning becomes reactive instead of preventative
staff burnout and turnover increase
smaller and rural organizations cannot keep their doors open
A 15% stabilization increase would immediately strengthen the safety net survivors rely on:
- crisis lines
- safety planning
- legal advocacy
- counselling
- transition housing
- outreach
- Indigenous-led programs
- Immigrant/refugee/newcomer programs
This is not “extra.”
This is the minimum necessary to keep women and children alive.
3. Implement Province-Wide, Standardized IPV Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is one of the most powerful tools in preventing femicide.
But in BC:
police use inconsistent approaches
Crown counsel lacks mandatory standards
community workers use multiple tools
information-sharing is uneven
high-risk cases fall between systems
The result: preventable tragedies, missed warning signs, and survivors left unprotected.
A province-wide standard, implemented across policing, Justice, community organizations, and child welfare would:
- identify high-risk situations earlier
- improve coordinated safety planning
- close gaps between agencies
- prevent escalation
- save lives
This is a core Renfrew County Inquest recommendation.
It is a key pillar in every modern femicide-prevention framework.
4. Launch a Province-Wide Public Awareness and Prevention Campaign
BC has no coordinated provincial campaign addressing:
- coercive control
- risk and lethality
- economic abuse
- immigration-related abuse
- strangulation
- firearm risks
- safety planning – how to access help
- how to help a friend or neighbour
- Awareness saves lives.
Campaigns like this have been implemented in Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK with measurable impact.
BC needs a prevention campaign designed with:
- survivors
- Indigenous communities
- grassroots anti-violence organizations
- immigrant and refugee leaders
- LGBTQ2S+ communities
- Prevention is not optional, it is a core component of public and social safety.
5. Appoint a Provincial GBV Lead Within Public Safety/Attorney General
Right now, no one in the provincial government is responsible for ensuring:
- GBV recommendations are implemented
- risk assessment standards are enforced
- coordination happens across ministries
- municipal task forces are supported
- inquiries translate into action
- survivors are not relying on luck or geography for safety
Every major inquiry has called for one senior lead with authority, mandate, and accountability to drive action.
This role must be located within Public Safety/Attorney General, not siloed in social services or gender equity portfolios.
This is how we move from reaction to prevention.
Conclusion: These Five Actions Are Not Aspirational.
They Are Necessary.
And They Are Doable and Right Now.
Femicide is only the result of individual behaviour.
It is the result of systemic failures.
These five actions are evidence-based, survivor-informed, and ready for implementation.
BC can prevent femicide.
BC must prevent femicide.
And survivors cannot wait.
#DesignedWithSurvivors
#16Days
