Because of the advocacy of the Northwestern Ontario Women’s Centre, the Thunder Bay committee to end woman abuse and the Naadmaagewin Indigenous Domestic Violence Committee, on September 25 Thunder Bay’s city council declared gender-based intimate partner violence an epidemic.

The rates of gender-based violence and sexual assault in northwestern Ontario are amongst the highest in the province, but in small, northern communities, vast distances and sparse populations make it extremely difficult for women to access support. It’s not possible to escape if there are no shelters where you live. And when funding is based on population numbers and not the geographic realities of the north, it’s guaranteed women will have nowhere safe to go.

The court system is also failing survivors. Because of court backlogs, plea bargains are pushed, women are silenced and perpetrators are released. Femicide, the killing of children: These still shock, yet they are only the extreme end of the everyday coercive control that keeps people living with abuse.

We need the Conservative government to listen to survivors, provide sustainable funding, fix the court system and act on all the recommendations of the Renfrew inquest, beginning with the first recommendation: Declare gender-based violence as the epidemic it is.

Meegwetch. Marsi. Merci. Thank you.

This petition is entitled “Support the Gender Affirming Health Care Act.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are;

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam’s private member’s bill—the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act—to improve access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I fully support this petition. I will sign it and pass it on to page Charles.