STACEY GODSOE: Nova Scotia shooting rampage rooted in gender-based violence — the sooner we recognize it, the better
STACEY GODSOE • Guest Opinion
Stacey Godsoe, of Be the Peace Institute, lives in Petite Riviere.
Published: Apr 16, 2021
April 18 marks the one-year anniversary of the worst mass shooting in Canadian history. The rampage lasted 13 hours over two days in six communities, killing 22 people. The killer robbed precious lives, terrorized entire communities and left our province and country shocked and shattered. There is no way to restore what was lost. But there must be a way to address some of the harms done and take steps to prevent future atrocities such as this.
Four ways we can respond to help honour the victims:
1. Don’t minimize the misogynistic roots and influence of gender-based violence (GBV)
Until this day one year ago, the Montreal Massacre of 14 young female students at École Polytechnique was, for 31 years, the worst mass murder in our country’s history.
There is increasing understanding that mass shootings are commonly perpetrated by misogynistic individuals or those who call themselves “incels.” American data links intimate partner or domestic violence with mass killings in over 50 per cent of incidents between the years of 2009 and 2018.
It is dangerous and irresponsible to reduce these events to the “random” acts of a lone madman. This devastating series of events was rooted in male violence against women, the most perpetrated form of gender-based violence (GBV). Immediately prior to a horrifying killing spree, the perpetrator had assaulted and bound his girlfriend. This is a common pattern evidenced in similar events in Canada and the United States, where we see “an adult male acting alone, and the killings were preceded by violence against an intimate partner or female relative,” according to Canadian digital magazine, Policy Options.
But despite these common and visible patterns, decision-makers and the media often hesitate to definitively draw these conclusions. This inability to name GBV and acknowledge its connection to both misogyny and mass casualty incidents inhibits not only our understanding and ability to prevent these kinds of events, but also reflects a cultural narrative that considers violence committed against women as less serious than other forms of violence. This disconnect can result in a mishandling of incidents of GBV by the systems meant to respond, address and prevent it. The fact that the shooter’s former partner has been charged with illegally providing ammunition to the shooter shows a stunning disregard for the years of terrifying abuse, coercion and violence she endured at his hands.
Policy-makers, researchers and journalists alike have a responsibility to resist the tendency to diminish this kind of violence as an unrelated, discreet, personal or private event, and mass killers as isolated madmen whose actions will never be understood. In doing so, we risk everyone’s public safety and miss the opportunities to prevent future tragedies.
2. Speak to political leaders about needed change
The events of April 18 and 19, 2020 have raised a lot of questions about the subsequent police response and have already exposed some systemic, procedural and jurisdictional issues that prompted a federal-provincial public inquiry.
While no one can ever prepare for the horrific nature and sequence of events that unfolded on those two days last year, and the responding officers did what they were trained to do, there were multiple and early warning signs that the killer was mentally unstable, had access to a cache of weapons, and was prone to domestic violence. Had those clues been acted upon sooner, it might have prevented or mitigated some of the harm he ultimately caused.
The move to a public inquiry vs. a “joint review” (a process lacking certain subpoena powers or transparency relative to an inquiry) following public outcry showed an important level of responsiveness by government. While this response is an important one, it remains critical that this tragic learning opportunity is optimized for greater understanding and concrete change.
A deeper understanding of GBV, what precipitates it and how to respond to ensure safety and healing is needed within policing, courts and all systems including the media. The inclusion of a certain degree of GBV-related expertise on the commission as well as invitations to community to participate in the Mass Casualty Commission are all positive steps. But we should not be placated by some changes to practice and policy, like discontinuing the selling of decommissioned police cars in surplus government auctions (an important step), while avoiding or ignoring the deeper cultural shifts needed. (It is worth noting that the Canadian military continue to unload their surplus — and virtually identical, police-style cruisers — the same way). We need a public commitment by government to understanding the misogynistic connections to mass shootings, if we are to have a chance at preventing this from happening again.
Speak to your member of Parliament, write to ministerial representatives for Justice, Health, Education, Public Safety and Community Services. Insist that GBV is on all of their agendas and that they plan to address this scourge in a coordinated way with a National Action Plan to address violence against women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people. More stringent gun-control legislation, legal reforms for those who have experienced GBV, increased investment in supportive services, preventive public education and targeted curriculum in all grades, and government action on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls calls to action — are among needed reforms to better address GBV in a meaningful way. Choose your priority, investigate, advocate and demand systemic change to increase safety for all.
3. Amplify, support and partner with those doing the work
In order to truly and genuinely support the kind of transformational change needed to end GBV, we have to work together. There are many facing down this issue every day, both in their work and in their daily lives. We can work to improve collaborations, connections and communication so that we are doing this work collectively to achieve the most impactful and lasting change.
This kind of whole-scale, ecosystem-level work requires effort that has rested solely on the shoulders of women’s services advocates for too long. Effort to tune into who is doing the work, what their capacity is, and how we can be better allies to amplify their work and share the load is in order. Cultural shifts require addressing GBV at multiple levels and across sectors and populations, together.
This work is not easy — it is exhausting and complex. We are currently faced with a triple pandemic of COVID-19, gender-based violence and racism, and only one of them is new. Violence and tension thrive during a global crisis such as COVID-19. We know GBV rates have been influenced by important public health measures to keep people safe that have had the unintended effect of confining those experiencing violence with their abusers and away from supports. Women’s Shelters Canada has also reported a rise in the severity of violence among those they serve.
Just as domestic and intimate partner violence has been exacerbated by the pandemic, so too has the kind of structural racism that leaves BIPOC communities more susceptible to the ravages of disease and death, poverty, violence. Policies designed to enforce physical distancing are disproportionately applied to those from marginalized groups. And that increased surveillance only adds to the level of distrust of the systems that are supposed to help.
This is an extreme and visible manifestation of the ongoing and deeply entrenched systemic racism that has existed in North America for centuries, and persists unabated, in the murder of George Floyd and so many other Black men and women at the hands of police. This year, we are also seeing a surge in anti-Asian crimes, assault and harassment due to xenophobic and racist associations with the origins of the virus itself.
We can take steps to address these social injustices by listening to those who have been pleading and fighting for change. We can use and share whatever power we have to collectively achieve racial and gender justice, free from violence. We can be allies in helping to understand and amplify the voices typically left out of the decision-making rooms and — more importantly — ensure they are at those tables.
We need to tackle these various plagues from all angles with community-government collaborations, multi-sectoral and intergovernmental collaboration, and new partnerships across the GBV/racial justice sectors.
There have been positive signs of a deepened political commitment to GBV, both with policy and practice changes as well as innovative solutions to better address GBV, including the Legal Advice for Sexual Assault Survivors program, specialized Crown attorneys for sexual assault and human trafficking cases, specialized wellness and domestic violence courts, changes to the Divorce Act, creation of the Highest Risk DV Situation Table, and the Standing Together initiative — a pan-governmental multi-year effort to address and prevent GBV, designed to inform a provincial action plan based on the learnings that emerge in the field.
We can all participate in keeping this momentum going. As service providers and community-based agencies: we can invest in partnerships where there is traction to bring those creative points of light together for greater impact and less duplication. As decision-makers: we can include community agencies with GBV expertise in policy creation and legislative review. As researchers, advocates and journalists: we can name the misogynistic roots of mass shootings and avoid victim-blaming tendencies. And we can all be more vigilant to ensure inclusion of those with lived experience in GBV in our planning and information-seeking for meaningful and sustained change.
4. Hold space for healing, kindness and compassion …
… for the families of the victims, for the affected communities, and for the police and other responders who are often forgotten in our grief and urgency to find answers. Those responders ran toward danger to help others and are also impacted by the tragedy, as well as the aftermath of necessary scrutiny of systems they work within but do not control. If you or someone you know needs support, reach out to NS First Responders’ Mental Health.
If you cannot provide support directly to those in pain, encourage them to seek support where it is available. The Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia is collaborating with Nova Scotia Health to increase access to emotional support for those affected by the April 18-19 tragedy by offering short-term sessions free of charge between April 5 and May 7. Call 902-422-9183 between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday to Friday, to find out more or to arrange for a support session with a psychologist within 48 hours.
The ongoing pain for those who lost loved ones in this horrific tragedy is unimaginable for most of us. We can all contribute to help them carry the load — advocate, inquire, call for needed change and witness their pain. A province wide moment of silence will take place at 3 p.m. on April 18 for two minutes, followed by a livestreamed memorial ceremony (see the Nova Scotia Remembers Legacy Society Facebook page for details). And if you are able, donate to the families of the victims.
The initial outpouring of love and support across the province and country in the days and weeks following the tragic events last year in the form of musical tributes, memorial displays, donations and op-eds were touching and important, but let’s not leave it at that. We need to learn from this horrific event. We need to continue to work to push for needed change. We need to continue to reach out to those in pain and then reach out again. We need to reach across party lines, departmental silos, and the government-public divide to collaborate for better, safer and more inclusive responding systems and communities for all.