I want to welcome all the representatives from the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses on their Wrapped in Courage campaign day. I particularly want to welcome some wonderful women from Hamilton and Brantford. Let’s start with Erin Griver from Inasmuch House; Natasha Dobler, Nova Vita; the fantastic Daniela Giulietti from the YWCA; Tessa Mcfadzean, Good Shepherd Women’s Centre; and the women from Interval House. You do fantastic work keeping our women safe. Welcome to your House.

November is Women Abuse Prevention Month, and today our galleries are filled with advocates from the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses. They’re raising the same question again and again as violence against women has reached epidemic levels. We’ve asked your government to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic, like almost 70 municipalities have done, but you refuse.

Last year in Hamilton, police received 13,000 calls for intimate partner violence and almost 5,000 women and their children were turned away from shelter beds because they weren’t available—again, an epidemic of violence against women and your government refuses to increase their core funding, which has been frozen for over 15 years.

So it’s nice to see all of the government wearing their purple scarves, but we need to see more than that performative action. We need to see this government declare intimate partner violence and gender-based violence as an epidemic, and we need to see core funding increase after 15 years of frozen core funding.

These women are doing important work to keep our women safe. Will we ever see your government truly support women in this province: yes or no?