Province still mulling 29 recommendations in Renfrew triple murder inquest
The Ottawa Citizen speaks to Kirsten Mercer about the province’s response to the jury’s recommendations in the Renfrew County murder inquest
Six months after they were made, the Ontario government says it needs more time to analyze 29 of the recommendations made by the jury in the Renfrew County inquest into the murders of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, and Nathalie Warmerdam.
The Ottawa Citizen asked Kirsten Mercer for her reaction.
Kirsten Mercer, a lawyer for End Violence Against Women Renfrew County, said Monday that some of the most substantial recommendations for the province fell into the “requires further analysis” list.
“This is where a lot of the heavy lifting remains, and no timeline has been provided. We were hoping for a timely response,” Mercer said.
“It’s discouraging. Every six days, a woman in this country is killed by her intimate partner. Days matter.”
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Another recommendation called for consistent and stable funding for IPV service providers. The province said this recommendation was “accepted in part.”
This was encouraging to see, but workers on the ground still spend too much time piecing together unstable funding from various sources, Mercer said.
“It would be a huge step forward for people who do this kind of work if they were not constantly worried about keeping the lights on,” she said. “I don’t think we’ve seen a huge difference on the ground. But we welcome the idea of having this conversation.”
That is why it was disappointing to see that the province had placed the inquest’s fifth recommendation on the “further analysis” list, Mercer said. That recommendation called for the immediate implementation of a committee of senior representatives from provincial ministries and IPV experts to ensure that all 86 recommendations were considered and responses were reported and published.
“It should have been the first thing they did,” Mercer said.
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Every time a woman is killed because she is a woman, that is a devastating and predictable loss, Mercer said.
“We know we have to do better. That’s what this exercise was about: providing a roadmap to do better.”
More from Kirsten here: Advocates disappointed by province’s initial Renfrew County inquest response.
LISTEN to Kirsten talk about the government’s response on CBC radio.