We Count Femicide Because

Femicide Reporting in Ontario

OAITH reviews mainstream media reports of femicides involving women, children, trans women, 2-Spirited Peoples and gender non-conforming individuals. The annual report includes femicides that have occurred in Ontario during a 12 month period from November 26th through to November 25th of the following year.  Annual reports are released on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence.  Monthly reporting captures the previous month and is released within the first week of the following month.  Our reporting relies on  media sources and other publicly available sources. This means the reports are not exhaustive and can include errors or omissions. It represents only a snapshot in time of public reports of femicides for the previous year (annual report) or previous month (monthly report) at the time the reports are published. The reports are not updated to reflect criminal justice outcomes after the reports have been published.

Evolving definitions of femicide attempt to include and represent the diversity of gender identities, relationships between victims and perpetrators, and motives for the killings. Our reports includes only those femicides where men have been charged with a criminal offence or deemed responsible (murder-suicide) and where there is a media report.

In the Canadian context, these killings could lead to Criminal Code charges of first or second degree murder (where the killing was intentional), manslaughter, or criminal negligence causing death. OAITH began identifying and declaring these killings in Ontario as femicides in 1995 and we won’t stop until femicide comes to an end.  OAITH reviews and analyzes hundreds of mainstream media sources (i.e. local and national newspapers and TV clips) every year based on our definition of femicide across different  victim/perpetrator relationships.  Relationships include a current or former husband or boyfriend, a brother, son or a nephew, a male coworker, neighbour, friend or acquaintance, or another man closely known to them. Where the relationship between the victim and perpetrator is not known (or not released), but media reports indicate that a woman was killed as a result of a violent gendered crime, that woman’s name will be included on the list.

Every year we release our Annual Femicide List based on mainstream media reporting to ensure that we remember the victims, bring attention to the violence women, girls and gender-diverse people experience, and take action to move our list to zero through femicide prevention.  OAITH works in partnership with Dr Mavis Morton of University of Guelph to track, analyze and educate the community about femicide.

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We Count Femicide Because...

We Count Femicide Because is an initiative between OAITH and Building a Bigger Wave Ontario Network (BBW) to call attention to and address Femicide rates in Ontario.

We Count Femicide Because will raise a public alarm every time a femicide occurs in Ontario. We want to draw attention to the critical need for investments in prevention and to engage leaders in communities and at all levels of government in dialogue focused on the collective work needed to prevent femicide.

Monthly Report

*Please note: Prior reports can be found in OAITH’s GBV Resource Library.  If you want to receive OAITH’s reports about Femicide please join our mailing list.

We Count Femicide Because:

  • Indigenous, Black and 2SLGBTQ+ women, girls and gender-diverse individuals are at an increased risk and experience disproportionate levels of gender-based violence.
  • Every life lost to femicide tears a hole in the fabric of our communities. We honour their lives and commit to making changes to prevent future femicides.
  • Naming men’s violence as the problem is part of the change we need to make as a society. We can’t change it if we can’t name it.
  • For every femicide, there are more survivors who are not safe in their homes, workplaces and communities. We can do more to reach out and support them. We can engage their intimate partners, family members, friends, coworkers and acquaintances to end the violence.

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