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Abuse Victims Speak Out
Ontario's women's shelters have released a
gripping book of first-person stories written by abused women and their children in the
hopes of getting more help for them.
The 140-page book, entitled No More, is a
compilation of stories, poems and pictures by women and children chronicling their lives
as victims of domestic violence. Front-line shelter workers and court staff also
contributed.
The book's cover lists the names of hundreds of
Ontario women killed by their spouses, including Gillian Hadley of Pickering who was
murdered by her estranged husband last June.
Eileen Morrow, coordinator for the Ontario
Association of Interval and Transition Houses, said copies of the book have been sent to
all 103 MPPs in the province and their federal counterparts and form part of a renewed
push for money to help women escape violence. Other copies are available at women's
shelters and resource centres.
The women's groups who came together to publish
the book maintain that escaping domestic violence has become more difficult under the
Conservative government of Premier Mike Harris because of cutbacks to social assistance
and cuts to funding for transitional housing for women fleeing abusive husbands.
In the Legislature yesterday, Harris defended
his government's record on protecting victims of spousal abuse but said increasing welfare
rates will make those women dependent on the government.
``We are trying very hard to ensure that women
who are in abusive situations are not financially dependent and we don't think you solve
that problem by making them financially dependent on the state,'' Harris said in response
to a question by NDP Leader Howard Hampton.
He said creating a dependence on government
money is ``replacing a wrong with a wrong.''
Harris said his government is spending $135
million a year on measures aimed at battling domestic violence.
Most of the government's efforts have
centered on the justice system, including dedicated courts for domestic violence cases and better
victim witness programs to support women who have to testify against their estranged
spouses.
But advocates for abused women say that only
one in four turn to the police for help and that all women need basic shelter and support
in order to flee. Morrow told reporters at a news conference yesterday that in the 12
months since her group last marked Wife Assault Prevention Month and remembered the
victims of the Montreal massacre at Cole Polytechnique, 16 more women have been murdered
by their partners in Ontario.
Morrow said with shelter space at a premium and
women being turned away, many return to abusive relationships because of poverty and run
the risk of reprisals.
``More women are being left behind at a time
when they need the support to move on with their lives,'' she said. ``We are failing them
badly.''
Punam Khosla of the Toronto Women's Network,
which also helped to pull together the book, said the main obstacle for many women hoping
to flee abuse is lack of money.
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