Domestic Violence-Time For a Change ~ Professor Don Dutton, UBC

Dr. Dutton is one of Canada's leading researchers into IPV and one of the few in North America who have not been made into eunuchs by the feminist hives in Academia and elsewhere who believe only men are abusers and all women victims of the patriarchy.MJM

Domestic Violence-Time For a Change 
Professor Don Dutton

15th February 2010

What do Chris Brown, Ike Turner, and OJ Simpson have in common? They are all famous men who beat their wives. Chris Brown's case got maximum exposure on Oprah, Ike Turner was vilified in a movie, OJ got all day/every day coverage at his murder trial. Our ability to remember them as examples of "wife beaters" is called the availability heuristic- we develop these associations largely from high profile media events. Since an availability heuristic- the examples of domestic violence we can call to mind-shapes our beliefs and judgments about an issue like domestic violence, the question is raised whether these media examples are representative of typical domestic violence. The answer is that they are not. They mis- represent domestic violence in three ways by making the perpetrators appear to always be black, male and acting alone.

Reality bites- when large sample victim surveys that ask about domestic violence are done, a very different picture emerges. In the first place, domestic violence is not more common in black relationships than white or other racial groups. Perhaps more surprisingly, the stereotype of the male as a bully and the female as hapless victim is not supported by the data. Surveys from 1989 to 2007 keep finding the same thing; the most common form of domestic violence is two -way- both partners assault each other at about the same level of severity. Women are hurt somewhat more but only somewhat- men get hurt too for the obvious reason that everyday weapons get used, knives, frying pans, and boiling water, amongst other things.


Here's another big surprise- "husband battering" (where the woman used severe violence against a non-violent man) is about three times more common as wife battering. A recent large sample survey by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta found this but it had been found before and Canadian surveys by Stats Can also find a relative equality in domestic violence perpetration. The media does treat violence towards men differently- the killing of NFL Quarterback Steve MacNair by his girlfriend was hardly covered at all, same with the death of Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry, the killing of London Ontario Police Detective Dave Lucio by his girlfriend Kelly Johnson (also a police officer) was similarly brushed aside.


The most famous example of media misandry was Wayne Bobbit whose wife castrated him. He became a running joke for late night comedians. Imagine this happening with the genders reversed. Controlled studies find that the same action is viewed differently by research subjects when the genders of the perpetrator and victim are varied. If a man does it (for example- asks his wife where she has been) it abuse or control. If a woman does it it's not. When the first shelter for battered men was set up in New Hampshire , the men reported that when they had called local shelters to ask for help they were told that they were the real batterers. All of these men had been injured. These results are found whether the research subjects are the general public or professional psychologists. When a spousal homicide occurs, the media asks the head of a local shelter why it happens. She will inevitably describe it as another example of violence towards women.


When Marc Lepine killed women in a mass shooting in Montreal , it was presented as an example of male violence towards women. When Denis Lortie shot up the Quebec Assembly the year before, he was simply a madman. The truth is, they were both psychotic. The gender paradigm that shapes our views on domestic violence is pervasive and affects everything from police responses to custody decisions in family court. The problem is the scientific data do not support these beliefs- they were just a political theory that was wrong when it was written and is even more askew in the present. Time for a change!


Professor Don Dutton

University of British Columbia

http://www.drdondutton.com/

Margaret Wente at the Globe and Mail Bashes men again and suborns assault on them

I would agree that this guy is a real narcissist and given the state of the TTC there may also be a causal closeness to being incompetent but then so is his paramour also a glamour fan who now gets her fifteen minutes of fame. Gosh maybe she will be centerfold of the month somewhere!

Wente rants on about men having a fling and some are pretty dumb but with all these relationships there is a willing woman involved. The women involved with Tiger all knew he was married. What does that say about them. Does Bimbo come to mind?

You do cross the line at encouraging violence with a frying pan weapon which could kill. Even dorky drone eunuchs don't deserve that. Was it OK for Tiger's wife to beat him on the head with a golf club? If so the reverse must also be true as well when the innocent little woman gets her nookie on the side. After all studies do show that women cheat as much as men. They are, as is the norm, much more manipulating and discreet at keeping it on the QT, especially if they are already gold digging with someone else with bucks.

Is Wente suggesting we open the doors to all genders taking vigilante justice on their cheating partners?

I hope not as that would not be responsible journalism and we know she is responsible?

The bottom line is Ms. Wente you are bashing men today but there was a less than innocent woman involved in all of your quoted extra sexual excursions. Those who got paid were doing it because it was their job but what about the motives of the other women?MJM

 

Being bad in Toronto the Good 

 

 

Margaret Wente

Published on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 7:23PM EST Last updated on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010 3:28AM EST

Toronto city politics are hardly scintillating at the best of times. So we owe a vote of thanks to Adam Giambrone, the brash young mayoral candidate who turned out to be too hot for politics. His was a textbook case of self-immolation. First, he doused himself with gasoline, and then he lit the match. By Wednesday, nothing was left but a greasy smudge on the floor of the council chamber.

The reason Mr. Giambrone is unfit to be mayor is not that he is horny. Nor is it that he two-timed his loyal live-in girlfriend with a buxom 20-year-old party girl named Kristen Lucas, who cheerily spilled her story – and her awesome cleavage – to the media. The reason is that he's an idiot. Did he learn nothing from Tiger Woods? The moral of that story ought to be engraved on the cellphones of cheaters everywhere: Whatever else you do, don't have text with that woman!
 
When confronted by Ms. Lucas's tale, Mr. Giambrone, who is 32 but looks lots younger, made his second goof. He pretended to confess, but lied. He admitted to a “relationship” that was “inappropriate” and a “serious lapse in judgment,” but he claimed it had never involved sex and they had met only in “public places.” Perhaps he had forgotten that message he had sent telling Ms. Lucas she looked good naked. (Of course, she kept it.)

She also kept the one in which he described his long-suffering girlfriend, Sarah McQuarrie, as nothing but a prop for his mayoral bid. “You know I will be announcing I have a partner,” he wrote. “It is important for the campaign … I had to have someone political.”

“ You can forgive a guy for cheating. You can't forgive him for being a total cad.”

That was the last straw. You can forgive a guy for cheating. You can't forgive him for being a total cad.
It turns out Ms. Lucas isn't the only other woman Mr. Giambrone had text with. By Wednesday he had confessed to multiple affairs, and tearfully threw in the towel.

“I don't think there are many males in this city who could afford to have their hormones closely examined,” one city councillor said.

Well, that's not news. Even Mel Lastman, a truly bad but amiable mayor who provided much comic relief in his day, turned out to have had a secret affair.

What amazes me about these people is why they think they won't get caught – especially in a tell-all age when every contact leaves a digital trail.

Did Eliot Spitzer really think his encounters with expensive hookers (after a career of busting prostitution rings) would go forever undetected? Did John Edwards really figure he could keep his flaky girlfriend and their love child a secret while running for the most public job in the world? Did Mr. Giambrone never fret that Ms. Lucas (an aspiring actress, we are told) might get the least bit miffed when he broke the news to her (by text) that he was not living with his family (the excuse he gave for his failure to invite her home), but with another woman? Or that she might enjoy having her assets splashed all over Page 1?

My guess is that such men don't think about these things at all. They are such extreme narcissists (a helpful trait in politics) that no one is ever quite as real to them as they are to themselves. That includes their wives, their children and all the people who have busted their tails on their behalf.

Sadly, this may be the high point of our mayoral race. Mr. Giambrone's exit leaves behind three middle-aged white guys, one of whom is married to another man. Naturally that's not an issue around here, unless he's having text with other people on the sly.

Mr. Giambrone, who looked genuinely shattered at his press conference Wednesday, is even attracting a bit of sympathy (though not from me) and his long-suffering girlfriend is standing by him.

I desperately hope that one of these days some humiliated spouse will whack the guy with a frying pan. I'd give good money to see that.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/being-bad-in-toronto-the-good/article1463584/ 

Happy Valentines Day Margy!!

Fathers-4-Justice Canada at the Olympics ~ Superheroes honor Olympic Heroes

	1-888-F4J Canada
Press Release
Contact: Hal Legere Phone: 1-778-837-1224 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2010
For Immediate Release                             February 14, 2010    Superheroes honor Olympic Heroes All eyes are on Canada as we welcome the International Village to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics.  The question is what will they see? A majestic land, a tapestry of people, the pride of a nation, and superheroes? Yes, a handful of real Canadian Superheroes will delight onlookers on the Stanley Park Causeway Road, Pedestrian Overpass at the historical Stanley Park in Vancouver BC this Sunday Feb. 14/10 at 12:00 noon. Fathers 4 Justice Canada wants to use their usual 'lighthearted' style to bring awareness to a serious, heartbreaking issue in Canada. Family breakdown is at an all time high in Canada and some 40,000 children per year are affected. Behind every Olympic athlete is a proud parent, often seen as heroes in their children's eyes. We want to give every kid the same chance to have such loving, supportive relationships with their parents, married or divorced. It is every child's right. As such the Burnaby Batman, Robin QC, Spiderman, the BC Hulk along with a handful of supporters will be proudly waving the Canadian flag upon the pedestrian overpass in Stanley Park to show their support of our Olympic Athletes and their family members. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT: On Site: Director, Murray Williams 604-209-2486 National Coordinator, Hal Legere 778-837-1224 National Website for more information about F4J Fathers 4 Justice Canada Canada: www.f4jcanada.ca
-End

Professor Charged in Alabama Campus Shooting Reportedly Killed Brother in 1986

Someone should tell the Editor of the Edmonton Sun, The Ontario Government, The BC Government, the Federal Department of Justice the Police Chief in London Ontario, and oh - yes Status of Women Canada,  that it does no good to cover up or hide from women's violence. There are, of course, lots more but they are those I have written to or about in the past month. It appears the Prof who just fatally shot 3 colleagues and wounded 3 others also killed her brother 24 years back.

The now retired Police Chief (see below) denies a cover up as she was not charged but all the paper work is missing. The corruption when it comes to Women's violence appears to run deep and is widespread.MJM

Saturday , February 13, 2010

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An Alabama university professor accused of fatally shooting three colleagues at a faculty meeting this week shot her younger brother dead at their home in the Boston suburbs more than 20 years ago, but records of it are missing, police said Saturday.

Amy Bishop shot her brother in the chest in 1986, Braintree police Chief Paul Frazier said at a news conference. She fired at least three shots, hitting her brother once and hitting her bedroom wall, before police took her into custody at gunpoint, he said.

Before Bishop could be booked, however, the police chief back then called officers and told them to release her to her mother, Frazier said. The shooting of the brother, Seth Bishop, was logged as an accident, but detailed records of the shooting have disappeared, he said.

"The report's gone, removed from the files," he said.

The Harvard-educated neurobiologist who became an assistant professor at the Alabama school in 2003 has been charged with capital murder, and other charges are pending.

Police said a 9 mm gun was found in a restroom in the science building on the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus, where the shootings occurred Friday afternoon.

She was taken Friday night in handcuffs to the county jail, and said as she got into a police car: "It didn't happen. There's no way. ... They are still alive."

District Attorney Ron Broussard said he did not think Bishop has a lawyer. Her husband, James Anderson, was detained and questioned Friday, though he has not been charged.

Ray Garner, a spokesman at the Huntsville campus, said Bishop had been denied tenure — a type of job protection afforded academics — months ago, and this was to be her last semester.
Some have said the professor, who students said was bright but had difficulty explaining difficult concepts, opened fire because of a dispute over the issue.

Students' assessments of Bishop varied. Some recalled an attentive, friendly teacher, while others said she was an odd woman who couldn't simplify difficult subjects for students. Sammie Lee Davis, the husband of a tenured researcher who was killed, said his wife had described Bishop as "not being able to deal with reality" and "not as good as she thought she was."

Davis said his wife was a tenured researcher at the university. In a brief phone interview, Davis said he was told his wife was at a meeting to discuss the tenure status of another faculty member who got angry and started shooting.

Davis' wife, Maria Ragland Davis, was among those killed, along with Gopi K. Podila, chairman of the biological sciences department, and another faculty member, Adriel Johnson.

Bishop had created a portable cell incubator, known as InQ, that was less expensive than its larger counterparts. She and her husband had won $25,000 in 2007 to market the device.

Andrea Bennett, a sophomore majoring in nursing and an athlete at UAH, said a coach told her team that Bishop had been denied tenure, which the coach said may have led to the shooting.

Bennett described Bishop as being "very weird" and "a really big nerd."

"She's well-known on campus, but I wouldn't say she's a good teacher. I've heard a lot of complaints," Bennett said. "She's a genius, but she really just can't explain things."

It was not clear if anyone at the campus of Bishop's bother's shooting.

Frazier said people who worked for the police department then remember the shooting of Bishop's brother and he planned to meet with the district attorney over the possibility of launching a criminal investigation into the report's disappearance.

The former police chief, John Polio, said Saturday in an interview at his home that he was astonished at any allegation of a coverup. He said he didn't call officers to tell them to release Bishop.

"There's no coverup, no missing records," he proclaimed.

Attempts by The Associated Press to track down addresses and phone numbers for Bishop's family in the Braintree area weren't immediately successful Saturday. The current police chief said he believed her family had moved away.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585781,00.html

The Irish Times - Monday, February 15, 2010

Woman charged with three shootings had killed in 1986

Amy Bishop is detained by police on Friday, following the killing of three colleagues at the University of Alabama.
Photograph: Bob Gathany

ANDREW CLARK in New York

A US biology professor charged over shooting dead three colleagues at a faculty meeting had killed her 18-year-old brother two decades earlier in a gun incident dismissed as an accident at the time, it emerged yesterday.

Amy Bishop (45) was arrested on Friday after allegedly opening fire on a campus room full of teaching staff at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, killing three lecturers and wounding three others.

Colleagues suggested the Harvard-educated geneticist was upset over the prospect of losing her job after being denied permanent tenure by the university.

Described as a research “star”, Dr Bishop had developed a new approach to treating the degenerative condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

William Setzer, chairman of the chemistry department at UAH, said Dr Bishop was appealing the decision not to grant her tenure which was made last year. “Politics and personalities” always play a role in the tenure process, he said.

“In a close department, it’s more so. If you have any lone wolves or bizarre personalities, it’s a problem and I’m thinking that certainly came into play here.”

But investigators have discovered Dr Bishop has a troubled past. At 19, she shot her younger brother, Seth, in the chest with a pump-action shotgun in the kitchen of their family home in Massachusetts.

His death in 1986 was ruled an accident by the authorities, who accepted her explanation that she had accidentally opened fire while trying to learn how to unload bullets from the gun’s chamber.

But a local senior police officer has cast doubt on this account, saying Dr Bishop was only released after a high-level intervention. “The release of Ms Bishop did not sit well with the police officers, and I can assure you that this would not happen in this day and age,” said Paul Frazier, chief of police in Braintree, near Boston.

Mr Frazier pledged a full review after it was revealed that an official report into the 1986 killing had gone missing. At a press conference, he said Dr Bishop’s mother was a town official and the teenager had been released on the direct orders of the then police chief.

© 2010 Guardian Service

Letter to British Columbia Ministers regarding their inaccurate views on Domestic Violence

From: Mike Murphy

Date: 11 February 2010 11:26

Subject: Domestic Violence

To: SG.Minister@gov.bc.ca, HSD.Minister@gov.bc.ca, MCF.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Cc: >

Dear Ministers:

I had the opportunity to review your response to S.M. with respect to the various services offered to your citizens with respect to Intimate Partner Violence and most importantly the rationale.

You proffer the usual feminist answer that is in every DV shelter operating manual and comes out of the pseudo psychological premise from the Duluth Power and Control Wheel with no basis in real science and I quote, " The Ministry does fund specific Violence Against Women programs in recognition of the gendered nature of domestic violence, which acknowledges that domestic violence is a power-based crime in which, most often, the male in an intimate relationship exercises power and control over the female."

I am very disappointed to see in the 21st century a government actually using this false premise as an excuse for not providing similar services to men. Given the research in place which clearly shows quite the opposite of what you describe, and outlined below, it is time to stop the sexist discrimination and provide equivalent services where warranted.  Men and women react differently to DV and men, despite taking a financial, physical and psychological battering, are guilty before all, as you show above and do not report the abuse to anyone in most cases. If they call the Police they are likely going to be the one arrested for the very reason you described. They largely internalize it unless a volunteer support group exists to provide assistance.

You also quote police reported statistics which do not give the real picture of actual occurrences of IPV.  In fact if DV is gendered how to you account for the upwards of 50% violence between Lesbian couples which is much higher than heterosexual couples?  You may wish to consult with Professor Don Dutton at UBC on matters relating to IPV between heterosexual  and Lesbian couples. He is on your doorstep and a well respected leader in the discipline who can bring some sense to your sexist policies.

You have also, as most feminists do, cherry picked your information from one source while leaving out anything that gives rise to DV being mutual, being initiated more by females than males, and showing it impacts 7% of women and 6% of men. Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile, 2005. An estimated 7% of women and 6% of men representing 653,000 women and 546,000 men in a current or previous spousal relationship encountered spousal violence during the five years up to and including 2004, according to a comprehensive Statistics Canada report on family violence.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/Daily/English/050714/d050714a.htm

Males are the largest victims of violence in Canada according to the most recent Homicide Stats. Canadian Homicide Stats 2008

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/091028/dq091028a-eng.htm

Total 611, 465 men 146 female
Rate of homicides with firearms has increased 24% since 2002. Handgun use on increase (gangs don't register their weapons)
Women victims 24% - lowest proportion ever Men Victims 76%
Both the rate of females killed (0.87 per 100,000 population), as well as the proportion. (24%), were the lowest since 1961
62 spousal homicides - no change from 2007. Lowest rate in 40 years, 45 women 17 (27.4%)men

Many DV homicides of men are not classified as such and this number is higher than 27.4%. Some police Departments actually suppress calling a homicide as DV even when it is patently obvious. See this article in the National Post on the London Police Chief Faulkner who falsified his 2007 reports by omission.  Its clear he has an agenda and uses the same mantra as does your government. See this column in the National Post http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/01/28/barbara-kay-london-ontario-police-statistics-on-domestic-violence-show-classic-signs-of-abuse.aspx and this one in the London Free Press. http://www.lfpress.com/comment/columnists/herman_goodden/2010/02/05/12762196.html

There are hundreds of studies showing the mutuality of IPV and I direct you to a small sample as follows:

Male victims of domestic violence have been seriously neglected in public policy, outreach and services. But they are not rare. They’re less likely to report it, which makes oft-cited crime data (DoJ, etc.) unreliable especially for men.

Prevalence and Injuries

Virtually all empirical survey data shows women initiate domestic violence at least as often as men in heterosexual relationships and that men suffer one-third of physical injuries from domestic violence. Over 200 of these studies (and growing), using various methodologies, are summarized by Professor Martin Fiebert at

http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm

Harvard Medical School and the American Psychiatric Association both recently announced a major national study in the U.S. that found half of heterosexual domestic violence is reciprocal and that: "Regarding perpetration of violence, more women than men (25 percent versus 11 percent) were responsible. In fact, 71 percent of the instigators in nonreciprocal partner violence were women."

http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/15/31-a

http://www.patienteducationcenter.org/aspx/HealthELibrary/HealthETopic.aspx?cid=M0907d

The study also found: "As for physical injury due to intimate partner violence, it was more likely to occur when the violence was reciprocal than nonreciprocal. And while injury was more likely when violence was perpetrated by men, in relationships with reciprocal violence it was the men who were injured more often (25 percent of the time) than were women (20 percent of the time)."

A recent 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire found women are as violent and as controlling as men in dating relationships worldwide.

http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2006/may/em_060519male.cfm?type=n

To make my point clearer that Domestic Violence is not gendered I supply some information from Australia and the USA on child killing and abuse where you will find the female, particularly the single mom, takes the lead role.  This information may provide some ideological dissonance and perhaps hurt your sensibilities but it is time for the feminine benign artifice  bubble to be burst. It is hurting men and boys, children and indeed women who are viewed by many as an underclass of victims needing government intervention at all levels of their development leaving the impression they are unable to function equally to men without such assistance..

You may wish to view the child abuse information with a view toward public policy for child protection. There is a move afoot to align the Violence Against Women (VAW)  sector with the child protection services and this clearly is not good public policy given the woman is the most likely to harm or kill the children. There is a definite conflict of a child's best interests involved.

There are no valid peer reviewed studies or government surveys of recent date showing the rates of abuse by dads are equal to mothers. In fact a recent Australian study shows mothers themselves and mothers in concert with a non-biological boyfriend/partner are far and away the highest cause of death of their children. Mothers killed 11 alone, with a partner not the biological father 5, dads 5.  That’s a 16-5 ratio toward mothers.

Kids are safer with Dads

The Australian Institute of Criminology has reviewed the most recent child homicide statistics from its National Homicide Monitoring Program. The new data shows that during 2006-07, eleven child homicides were perpetrated by a mother, while five perpetrators were fathers, and another five were de-facto partners of the mother who lived with the child. Importantly, no child victims were killed by a complete stranger during this period.

You can go here for the USA stats showing by far Mothers are the greatest killers and abusers of their children. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm

2006,  is outlined below:

Some data on child abuse from Child Maltreatment 2006, a report by the Federal Administration for Children & Families...

Figure 4-2 Perpetrator Relationships of Child Fatalities, 2006

Child Maltreatment 2006

Perpetrator Relationships of Child Fatalities, 2006

This pie chart indicates that 27.4 percent of child fatalities were perpetrated by the mother acting alone. Such non-parental perpetrators as daycare providers, foster parents, or residential facility staff were responsible for 14.6 percent of fatalities.


Leaving aside killings by non-parents or by mothers and fathers acting together, mothers committed a significantly greater number of the parental murders of children.



 

Figure 3-5 Victims by Perpetrator Relationship, 2006

Victims by Perpetrator Relationship, 2006
 
This pie chart shows that 39.9 percent of child victims were maltreated by their mothers acting alone; another 17.6 percent were maltreated by their fathers acting alone; 17.8 percent were abused by both their mother and father. Victims abused by a nonparental perpetrator accounted for 10.0 percent.


Until DV is treated as a family problem rather than a female victim/male perpetrator we cannot expect much to change. It has been going on for a very long time with no end in site. Resources need to be spent on trying to salvage a family caught in the trauma of disputes holistically rather than all women are victims. I often wonder if that had been available to my family whether things would have worked out differently. How about a court process requiring all family members into counseling and if the alleged perpetrator does not respond in a timely manner then the criminal process kicks in? Australia's Family Centres are a good example. 

We know the downstream impacts of the current process with destroyed families, criminal records, loss of jobs, poverty, and increased social problems of children in single family homes. In fact children learn from their parents and the cycle becomes multi-generational. If such a system existed early warnings, as part of an education process, would allow the victimized spouse or child to seek counsel and have the family brought into a healthy counselling process before things got out of hand. It would be far more proactive and preventative. Before it becomes a police action we should look for other alternatives which will decrease the current stresses on police services to deal with the problems. Note I say family not a single gender. A process involving the family that is non-threatening may reduce the fear factor of a non-working spouse, male or female (recall I was the stay-at-home dad in my case) and have them make the move earlier with a chance to salvage the relationship and family.

As long as you stick to this Duluth Wheel psycho-babble of male power and coercion taxpayers money is not being spent in a wise fashion.

Mike Murphy
682 Old Garden River Road
Sault Ste. Marie ON  P6A 6J8

> February 10, 2010

Mr. S. M.

E-mail:

Dear Mr. M:

I am responding to your January 7, 2010 e-mail regarding your thoughts on the government’s funding of domestic violence programs.  I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the services available for both men and women in British Columbia who are the victims of domestic violence.

The majority of Ministry programs and services for victims of crime in British Columbia serve all victims of violence, including both men and women.  In fact, all but seven of the Ministry’s Victim Service Programs are mandated to serve both men and women.  Three victim service programs serve only men and four serve only women.  Similarly, the Ministry’s Crime Victim Assistance Program provides medical and dental expenses, counselling services, protective measures, income support and other benefits to assist all eligible victims of crime and their families to recover from the impacts of crime.  In the same manner, the Victim Safety Unit provides notification services to victims of crime regarding the custody status of an accused or offender including releases from custody and information about conditions that must be followed when in the community.  This service is available to both men and women who register with the unit.

The Ministry also funds VictimLINK, a toll-free, province-wide 24/7 multilingual help and information line that provides emergency crisis support for all victims of family and sexual violence.  Our Victim Court Support Program provides enhanced support to victims in the criminal court process including emotional support, court updates, information, orientation, accompaniment, and referrals to victims/witnesses and their families.  Additionally, the Ministry funded Children Who Witness Abuse Programs which provide counselling for children aged 3 to 18 who have witnessed abuse, threats, or violence in the home to help these children and their adult caregivers heal from the trauma and learn about healthy relationships.  This program serves boys, girls, and caregivers of either sex.

The Ministry does fund specific Violence Against Women programs in recognition of the gendered nature of domestic violence, which acknowledges that domestic violence is a power-based crime in which, most often, the male in an intimate relationship exercises power and control over the female.  For this reason, our Stopping the Violence Counselling Programs and Outreach and Multicultural Outreach Services exclusively serve women.

The reality is that the majority of victims of police-reported spousal violence are females, accounting for 83 per cent of victims in 2007 (Statistics Canada. Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2009, p. 5).  Women are also more likely than men to be victims of spousal homicide.  In 2007, almost 4 times as many women were killed by a current or former spouse as men (Statistics Canada. Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2009, p. 6).  In domestic violence situations, women are twice as likely as men to be injured, three times more likely to fear for their lives, twice as likely to suffer serious injury and six times as likely to seek medical attention (Statistics Canada. Measuring Violence Against Women: Statistical Trends 2006, p. 19).  For all of these reasons, we do fund specific services for women but for the Ministry as a whole, the majority of our programs and services for victims of violence are for both men and women.

I would like to personally thank you for writing to get clarity on the types of programs and services available for victims of domestic violence and for the important work you do in the area of law enforcement.  Working together we can ensure safer homes and communities for all British Columbians impacted by violence. 

Thank you once again for writing.

Yours truly,

Kash Heed

Solicitor General

pc:     The Honourable Rich Coleman

        The Honourable Mary Polak

Police Chief Faulkner in London Ontario is eating his words again

I find it interesting, nay astounding, to learn the myopic Police Chief Faulkner, who would falsify his own statistics, could be viewed as a sterling citizen. He appears to have been very involved in his community but if he would commit fraud because of ideology in one major area of his service to the citizens how many others are there? Ideologues, as we have seen within Victim Feminism, will lie, cheat, commit fraud and teach our children it is a truth in many aspects of gender relationships and noncommittal behaviour.

Maybe later more of his handiwork will arise when he is gone.MJM

 

 

Politics unlikely fit for Faulkner

By Herman Goodden, Special to QMI Agency

Last Updated: 5th February 2010, 5:01pm

With the retirement of 57-year- old London police Chief Murray Faulkner set to take effect this summer, glowing tributes to his character and record are pouring forth from many quarters.

A grad of Sir Wilfrid Laurier secondary school and Fanshawe College, Faulkner is well liked by his colleagues in the London Police Service where he was first appointed as a constable in 1975, rising to the post of deputy chief in 2000 and filling the top spot four years later.

Fellow officers always like it when one of their own heads up the service and this was doubly true when Faulkner was appointed as he followed in the wake of the dispiriting Al Gramolini debacle when an 'imported' chief was caught fiddling his expense reports and was forced to step down.

Faulkner has been a tireless ambassador to the larger community, serving on many charitable and philanthropic boards and councils and chairing the 2007 United Way campaign for London and Middlesex County. So extensive are his community commitments that it is estimated he presides at a mind-boggling 300 functions a year. This makes it more than understandable that his only stated plans for his retirement are to decompress and spend more time with his family and friends.

Faulkner is still young enough and his community standing is prominent enough that it is felt he would be a shoo-in for some sort of political office should he wish to stand as a candidate. He has not yet indicated any particular interest that way but overtures are being made to him, and he hasn't rejected the prospect out of hand.

While it might seem a natural enough progression for him to move into the political arena, such a repositioning would call on a markedly different skill set than that which he currently employs. In many ways, it would represent an inversion of the London police motto which he has sought to fulfil for the last 35 years. He would shift from a life of "Deeds not words" to one of "Words not deeds". Words are a politician's currency and tools and as a politician, Faulkner would have to exercise a level of nuance and care with his every utterance unlike anything he's ever had to concern himself with as a cop.

An example of the kind of thing I mean can be found in his address to the crowd attending the October 2006 launch of a special police task force aimed at "combatting woman abuse." At that event, Faulkner flatly identified domestic violence solely as a "gender problem," saying, "Men, and what it is to be a man in our society, (are) the problem."

This was strongly, even recklessly worded, and eight months later Faulkner's simplistic, one-sided reading of such a complicated, and fully human (i.e., pertaining to both men and women) problem, blew up in his face when London police service Insp. Kelly Johnson shot and killed retired London police superintendent David Lucio (then killed herself) the day after Lucio called off their three-year love affair to return to his wife and family.

As Ontario's Domestic Violence Death Review Committee defines domestic violence as a homicide by a partner or ex-partner, Johnson's despicable act clearly fits the bill. However unusual or flukish that situation may have been, the rage of Kelly Johnson showed that the roots of domestic violence are not solely grounded in the issue of "men, and what it is to be a man in our society."
Did Faulkner learn from this tragic act perpetrated by one of his officers, and take that opportunity to expand his understanding of domestic violence? He did not. The investigators' report on the murder-suicide which Faulkner called for, while brief, listed all kinds of extenuating circumstances that aggravated Johnson's hold on reality.

"Emotional disturbances," were cited, as well as, "historical stressors," the 2005 deaths of her mother as well as "her pet of 15 years." Such stuff would never have been considered if it had been a man who'd been pulling the trigger. More incredible still, in the release of 2007's police statistics on domestic violence (DV) perpetrated that year, only one homicide of a woman by a man was listed for the entire year. The Johnson/Lucio murder-suicide didn't make the cut.

Herman Goodden is a London freelance writer. E-mail herman.goodden@sympatico.ca