Between the coronavirus pandemic and the attack directly preceding the worst mass murder in modern Canadian history, domestic violence — which accounts for one in five murders in Canada and kills women at a rate 4.5 times higher than men — has been thrust squarely in the spotlight.
A pandemic within a pandemic, as many have taken to writing. Despite the attention, Dr. Kari Sampsel, an emergency room doctor and medical director of the sexual assault and partner abuse care program at the Ottawa Hospital, says there’s still a long way to go toward destigmatizing conversations about intimate partner violence.
She says we need to normalize those conversations if we’re going to more effectively intervene. “I’m trying very hard to get the word out