The Downplay Detector
Is your city taking intimate partner violence seriously?
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public safety issue. Yet too often, it’s minimized, overlooked, or treated as someone else’s responsibility.
That’s downplaying.
The Downplay Detector tracks whether municipal candidates and elected leaders across BC have committed to five concrete actions to address intimate partner violence.
If they haven’t committed to including intimate partner violence in their mandates or platforms? That’s a downplay detected.
Five Actions. One Clear Standard.
We’re asking municipal candidates and elected leaders to commit to:
Establishing an intimate partner violence Task Force
Increasing funding to local victim services and anti-violence programs
Improving local data collection for prevention and safety planning
Investing in prevention
education
Appointing a dedicated municipal Intimate Partner Violence lead
Public safety starts at home. It’s time to stop downplaying intimate partner violence.
Use the Downplay Detector below to search your community or a particular candidate or elected official to see who has committed to including intimate partner violence in their policy platform — and who hasn’t.
| City | Candidate | Commitment | Downplay Detected? |
|---|
2025 Municipal Response Tracker
Where This Work Started
In 2025, BWSS asked Mayors and Councils across British Columbia to recognize intimate partner violence, gender-based violence and femicide as municipal public safety issues — and to act.
The tracker below records how municipalities responded: who engaged, who took next steps, and who did not respond.
It is the starting point for the work we are advancing in 2026.
2025: Would municipalities engage?
2026: Who is prepared to act?
✅ Met with BWSS
🟡 Committed to action or next steps
❌ No response yet
We update this tracker regularly as municipalities engage. If your city isn’t on the map yet, ask your local leaders: Where do you stand?
City |
BWSS Meeting |
Action Taken |
Comments |
| 100 Mile House | ❌ No response yet |
|
|
| Abbotsford | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Alert Bay | 🟡Meeting scheduled for November | ||
| Anmore | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Armstrong | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Ashcroft | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Barriere | 🟡 Replied but no meeting scheduled | ||
| Belcarra | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Bowen Island | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Burnaby | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Burns Lake | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Cache Creek | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Campbell River | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Canal Flats | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Castlegar | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Central Saanich | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Chase | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Chetwynd | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Chilliwack | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Clearwater | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Clinton | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Coldstream | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Colwood | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Comox | 🟡 Replied but no meeting scheduled | ||
| Coquitlam | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Courtenay | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Cranbrook | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Creston | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Cumberland | 🟡 Awaiting meeting dates | ||
| Dawson Creek | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Delta | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Duncan | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Elkford | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Enderby | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Esquimalt | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Fernie | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Fort St. James | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Fort St. John | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Fraser Lake | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Fruitvale | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Gibsons | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Gold River | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Golden | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Grand Forks | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Granisle | ❌ No response yet | ||
|
Harrison Hot Springs
|
✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Hazelton | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Highlands | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Hope | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Houston | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Hudson’s Hope | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Invermere | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Kamloops |
❌Councillor replied, no meeting scheduled |
||
| Kaslo | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Kelowna | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Kent | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Keremeos | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Kimberley | ❌ Declined BWSS delegation application | ||
| Kitimat | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Ladysmith | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Lake Country | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Lake Cowichan | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Langford | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Langley (City) | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Langley (Township) | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Lantzville | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Lillooet | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Lions Bay | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Logan Lake | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Lumby | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Mackenzie | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Maple Ridge | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Masset | ❌ No response yet | ||
| McBride | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Merritt | 🟡Meeting scheduled for November | ||
| Metchosin | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Midway | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Mission | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Montrose | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Nakusp | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Nanaimo | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Nelson | ❌ No response yet | ||
| New Denver | ❌ No response yet | ||
| New Hazelton | ❌ No response yet | ||
|
New Westminster
|
🟡 Awaiting meeting dates | ||
| North Cowichan | ❌ Council replied and are not pursuing a meeting | ||
| North Saanich | ❌ No response yet | ||
| North Vancouver | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
|
Northern Rockies
|
❌ No response yet | ||
| Oak Bay | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Oliver | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Osoyoos | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Parksville | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Peachland | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Pemberton | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Penticton | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Pitt Meadows | ❌Declined further engagement | ||
| Port Alberni | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Port Alice | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Port Clements | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Port Edward | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Port Hardy | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Port McNeill | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Port Moody | 🟡Meeting scheduled for November | ||
| Pouce Coupe | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Powell River | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Prince George | ✅ Met with BWSS | Presenting a resolution on Human Trafficking, Gender-Based Violence, and Intimate-Partner Violence at UBCM | |
| Prince Rupert | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Princeton | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Qualicum Beach | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Quesnel | ❌ No response yet | ||
|
Radium Hot Springs
|
❌ No response yet | ||
| Revelstoke | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Richmond | ✅ Met with BWSS | ❌Declined further engagement | |
| Rossland | 🟡Meeting scheduled for November | ||
| Saanich | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Salmo | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Salmon Arm | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Sayward | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Sechelt | ❌ No response yet | ||
| shíshálh Nation | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Sicamous | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Sidney | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Silverton | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Slocan | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Smithers | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Sooke | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Spallumcheen | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Sparwood | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Squamish | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Stewart | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Summerland | ❌ No response yet | ||
|
Sun Peaks Mountain
|
❌ No response yet | ||
| Surrey | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Tahsis | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Taylor | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Telkwa | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Terrace | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Tofino | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Trail | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Tumbler Ridge | 🟡 Meeting to be rescheduled | ||
| Ucluelet | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Valemount | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Vancouver | ✅ Met with BWSS | ||
| Vanderhoof | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Vernon | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Victoria | ❌ No response yet | ||
| View Royal | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Warfield | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Wells | ❌ No response yet | ||
| West Kelowna | ❌ No response yet | ||
| West Vancouver | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Whistler | ❌ No response yet | ||
| White Rock | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Williams Lake | ❌ No response yet | ||
| Zeballos | ❌ No response yet |