Ontario must declare intimate-partner violence an epidemic: agencies

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government must declare intimate-partner violence to be an epidemic, a Belleville audience heard Friday.

Dec. 6 marks the anniversary of the so-called Montreal massacre, the killing of 14 women by an anti-feminist gunman.

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Each year, local social service agencies unite to hold a memorial vigil on or near the anniversary.

Fewer than 30 people attended Friday’s gathering at downtown Belleville’s CORE Centre on Pinnacle Street.

Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, Belleville, and Quinte West, have declared intimate-partner violence to be an epidemic, as have 70 per cent of Ontario municipalities, said Emily Sanders, the training and education coordinator of Belleville-based Three Oaks Foundation.

Ontario on Nov. 5 declared such violence to b