‘Purposeful’ action needed on abuse: advocates

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This article was published 05/11/2019 (2306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In decades of domestic-violence prevention work in Canada, the catalyst for progress has too often been death. And as Winnipeg mourns a three-year-old boy allegedly attacked by his mother’s boyfriend, advocates caution against reactionary policies at a time when calls for change are amplified.

“It’s only when there’s a horrific death, it gets our attention, and over time, it fades away and people tend to forget about it… It’s only (when) another death happens that we start looking at it again — and I think that’s what’s unfortunate,” says Kendra Nixon, director of RESOLVE, an anti-violence research network based at the University of Manitoba.

“We really need to look at this not just as a province or a city, but as a country as well, in terms of having a strong framework of ending violence against women.”

Hunter Haze Straight-Smith was repeatedly stabbed overnight Oct. 30, in an attack police say happened after 33-year-old Daniel Jensen fought with the boy’s mother.

Jensen has been charged with attempted murder. He was previously convicted of assaulting Hunter’s mother, Clarice Smith, and was under a court order not to contact her.

The boy’s death has prompted an outpouring of grief and ignited community vigils and rallies against violence. The fact Hunter was taken off life-support and died Nov. 2, during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, has been used to draw attention to long-standing high rates of domestic violence in Manitoba and the need for more support.

When it announced Jensen’s arrest last week, the Winnipeg Police Service identified him as Smith’s on-again/off-again boyfriend, but didn’t speak publicly about domestic-violence issues.

Advocates with experience in the field — without specific details of this case — are expressing condolences for Hunter’s family while trying to bring attention to family violence in Manitoba.

“We didn’t see any connection to what really was happening here, and that was, this is a very classic case of domestic-violence abuse. We wanted to see some connection there,” said Deena Brock, provincial co-ordinator with the Manitoba Association of Women’s Shelters.

The organization issued a news release Tuesday about Hunter’s death, as an example of a tragedy that “hit home” during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but that’s how we get media to pay attention,” Brock said. “It’s just a reality. And even more sadly, the fact that it’s a child that’s being attacked… It’s just that much more horrific, and people pay attention to that. They hear it, and all of a sudden, it strikes home.”

Brock and others hope public attention to the issue will spur change and help for families who need it.

In a neighbourhood not far from where Hunter was attacked, an overwhelming number of people have been showing up for counselling at a local community centre.

Nina Condo, executive director of Elmwood Community Resource Centre, said in the wake of Hunter’s death, addiction-motivated crime and two homicides in Elmwood over the past two weeks, an influx of residents — roughly 10 per day — have sought crisis counselling to deal with their own trauma that news of recent crimes has triggered.

“It’s impacting everyone, because no one can ever fathom to lose a child as a result of someone wanting to get back at their girlfriend or wife or partner. Everyone is concerned. For us, we are grieving with the mother,” Condo said.

At RESOLVE, which itself was founded after the 1989 École Polytechnique slayings in Montreal, researchers had already been looking into how they can better work with women who’ve been abused, particularly mothers. Other upcoming research will study links between criminal law and family law for victims of domestic violence.

“I know from the work that I do that children are targets of abusive male partners, and that is kind of the ultimate way to get back at their female partners, by killing or harming their children,” Nixon said.

“Obviously, domestic violence has been around a long time and, unfortunately, will continue to be around a long time, and I think when we make policies and programs in very reactionary ways, it’s problematic,” she added.

“We need to have policies and programs developed in deliberate, thoughtful and purposeful ways that is based on research and not based on knee-jerk reactions.”

Who to call to get help

Provincewide toll-free 24-hour crisis line — 1-877-977-0007

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay