​CFUW urges Huron-Bruce MPP to support Bill 55

To: Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson:
Re: Support for Bill 55, Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025

We are writing on behalf of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Kincardine and District, a club with 33 members. We are part of CFUW Ontario Council which is a provincial organization with 48 clubs across Ontario and 4,500 members. The CFUW is a voluntary, self-funded, non-profit, non-partisan, women's organization whose members seek to provide life-long learning, improve public policy and advocate for gender equality and for the rights of women and girls.

We are contacting you to express our support for Bill 55, the Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025. Bill 55 would require the Government of Ontario to recognize that intimate partner violence is an epidemic in our province.

Intimate Partner/Gender-based Violence is a human rights violation; no one should be harmed or killed based on gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. We are urging the Province of Ontario to join the more than 100 municipalities in our province that have already declared Intimate Partner Violence an Epidemic.

The OPP state that reports of intimate partner violence were up 18.1 per cent in Ontario in 2024, with 6,289 reports compared to 5,326 in 2023. And that was 13.5 per cent higher than in 2022.
Erin Lee, executive director of Lanark County Interval House, says she's seen an increase in crisis calls.
"I think a lot of the effort that the OPP is putting into properly investigating intimate partner violence, is paying off,” says acting staff-sergeant Nick Cloutier. “Victims throughout all of our communities are more comfortable with police, have more trust in police, and are more comfortable coming forward.”
The time to act is now! We urge the Government of Ontario to acknowledge this serious issue as an epidemic, to support passage of Bill 55, Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act 2025, and provide additional resources across the province.

Ms. Thompson, we kindly request confirmation of your receipt of this letter and would greatly appreciate your comments on this issue as well

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Kind regards,
Cheryl Taylor, president
Jennifer MacKenzie, advocacy chairperson
CFUW Kincardine and District

cc. Council of the Municipality of Kincardine
Council of the Township of Huron-Kinloss