Ontario should officially declare intimate partner violence an epidemic, and the federal government should add the murder of women to the Penal Code, a jury recommended Tuesday during a coroner investigation into the deaths of three women killed by their ex-partner.
The investigation, which began on June 6, is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Carol Culton, Anastasia Kuzik and Natalie Wormerdam. It focuses on the dynamics of gender-based violence, intimate partner violence and femicide in rural communities.
Culleton, Cusick and Warmard were killed on their property in the Renfrew district on September 22, 2015 by Basil Borutski, a man with whom they had a previous relationship and who had a history of violence against women.
The jury’s recommendations and verdict brought tears to the eyes of some of those present on the last day of the investigation in Pembroke, Ont.
In total, jurors shared a list of 86 recommendations aimed at preventing such tragedies, expanding the list of proposed recommendations that Warmerdam’s lawyers and daughter shared with the jury on Friday.
The recommendations are largely aimed at the provincial government, including setting up a 24-hour hotline for men to prevent them from engaging in intimate partner violence, setting up an emergency fund to help women seek safety, and setting up a of an independent commission dedicated to the eradication of violence by intimate partners.
The five-member jury also recommended that the federal government examine the addition of the term “murder of women” and its definition to the Penal Code and implement the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence “in a timely manner.”
President Leslie Reum read the verdict to the jury aloud, saying jurors had found that Culleton, Warmerdam and Cusick had died in a murder.
Jurors also found that the cause of Culleton’s death was an obstruction of the upper respiratory tract, while Kuzyk and Warmerdam died from gunshot wounds to the chest and neck.
Reaume thanked everyone involved in the investigation, including witnesses who “gave so much of their time,” along with women from the community to fight violence in Renfrew County and beyond.
“I sincerely hope that this investigation will lead to a real and lasting change,” she said.
– with files from Sarah Richie
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 28, 2022.
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This story was created with the financial support of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
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