VICTORIA, BC — This press conference takes place on the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples, known today as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.
Community and anti-violence organizations from across Vancouver Island gathered today at the Victoria Courthouse to honour the life of Laura Gover and to speak collectively about intimate partner violence as a social and public safety issue that requires action before harm occurs.
Laura Gover was forty-one years old, a mother of two, and a respected educator who taught at Vancouver Island University and Camosun College. She was found dead in her home on January 5, 2026. A man has since been charged with second degree murder, and the courts have identified the case as an alleged incident of intimate partner violence. While legal proceedings are ongoing, organizations emphasized that silence in the face of repeated and predictable patterns of violence is not a neutral response.
Speakers centred the impact of Laura’s death on her children, loved ones, students, and community, and underscored that intimate partner violence is not a private tragedy but a public safety failure when known risk is not acted upon. Organizations spoke with a united voice about the urgency of prevention, accountability, and coordinated intervention when warning signs are present.
Frontline experience and research consistently show that violence in intimate partner relationships often escalates during periods of separation and that risk is frequently visible well before harm becomes lethal. Women’s stated fear, breaches of court orders, stalking, coercive control, and prior system involvement are well established indicators of heightened danger. When these indicators are minimized or fragmented across systems, responsibility is too often shifted onto women to manage their own safety rather than onto perpetrators and the institutions mandated to intervene.
Since August 2024, nearly forty-five women have been killed in British Columbia in contexts of intimate partner or gender-based violence, according to tracking by anti-violence organizations. These deaths reflect a pattern, not isolated incidents. Each loss underscores the cost of delayed action and the consequences of treating prevention as optional rather than essential public safety infrastructure.
Organizations called for immediate and coordinated action to prevent further loss of life. These actions include consistent and mandatory intimate partner violence risk assessment that triggers intervention when high risk is identified, meaningful enforcement and monitoring of protection orders and release conditions, coordinated leadership at the provincial level to align responses across police forces and ministries, sustained investment in frontline anti-violence services as core public safety resources, and prevention efforts that occur before crisis rather than after tragedy.
Throughout the press conference, speakers stressed respect for due process and family privacy. No speculation was made about the facts of this case. The focus remained on honouring victims and survivors, prevention, social and public safety, and systemic responsibility.
Organizations also announced the release of a provincial sign on statement calling for coordinated prevention and accountability measures to address intimate partner violence across British Columbia. Community organizations across the province are invited to endorse the statement and to participate in ongoing advocacy to advance these actions.
Respect for family privacy and due process remains central to this work. Speaking out about prevention and public safety is how lives are honoured and how future harm can be prevented.
Quotes
We gather here today to reaffirm to victims and their families that they deserve better. They deserve safety and systems that believe them and act swiftly to protect them. And we will not stop fighting for that. – Bahar Dehnadi, Executive Director, Victoria Women’s Transition House Society
Women need to be believed when they say they are afraid. A woman’s fear is a risk factor that needs to be taken seriously. She needs protection that is comprehensive, monitored, and enforced. Our systems need to stop putting all the responsibility for protecting herself on the victim. That is impossible at best, lethal at worst. – Marlene Goley, Manager, The Cridge Transition House and Outreach Services
Protection on paper is not protection in practice. When women speak fear, systems must listen and act—before violence turns lethal.” – Liza Scott, Executive Director, Cowichan Women Against Violence Society
Women are being killed while risk is already known and governments are already on notice. This is not a failure of awareness or tools. It is a failure of political ownership across systems that continue to treat intimate partner violence as optional rather than as core public safety infrastructure. – Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director
Battered Women’s Support Services
We know through self-disclosed data, in Canada, 44% of women over the age of 15 reported being impacted by intimate partner violence in their lifetime. By this statistic, everyone most likely knows someone who has, or will be, impacted by intimate partner violence. This stat should scare us. As a community, we need to demand systemic change to ensure that we are keeping women and children safe. – Karlee Grant, Director of Housing and Community Supports, SSVP
At Sooke Transition House Society, we see every day that intimate partner violence follows predictable patterns and that risk is often visible long before harm becomes fatal. Prevention requires more than awareness after tragedy – it requires systems that listen to women’s stated fears, intervene when danger is identified, and take responsibility for coordinated action. Honouring lives lost means acting earlier, together. – Tara Wolff, Executive Director, Sooke Transition House Society
Margaret Laurence House and our Board of Directors, the Greater Victoria Women’s Shelter Society, believe in the inherent right of women and children to live free of violence. We believe that systemic change needs to take place in order for this vision to be realized. Such change could prevent tragedies like the death of Laura Gover. Our thoughts are with Laura’s loved ones and community on this sad day. – Melanie Smart, Managing Counsellor – Margaret Laurence House
