MOTIONS RELATED TO FEMICIDE AND HATE CRIME
MOTIONS RELATED TO FEMICIDE AND HATE CRIME
Letter from LPSB Chair, Susan Toth
LONDON, ON (July 5, 2022) – At the June 16, 2022 meeting of the London Police Services Board, three motions were passed regarding femicide and hate crime against women. Addressing male violence against women is a priority of our Board. One woman or girl is murdered in Canada every 36 hours. A disproportionate number of these women and girls are Indigenous.
The Board is committed to addressing these issues and as a first step would like femicide, commonly understood as the killing of women and girls, defined in the Criminal Code of Canada. The goal in defining femicide is to see it labelled and addressed as a hate motivated crime.
The motions have a narrow focus specific to femicide and hate crime. They do not speak to all aspects of addressing male violence against women. I have attached the motions, however in summary, they include the following actions:
- The Board advocate that the Government of Canada define femicide in the Criminal Code of Canada; and
- The Board direct the Chief of Police to include a requirement in his related procedures that officers investigating any incident in which a victim is from an identifiable group as outlined in section 318 (4) of the Criminal Code, consider the motivation of the action and if the motivation reflects hate, that it be investigated as such; and
- The Chief of Police include in the LPS Annual Report to the Board the demographic information of known perpetrators of hate/bias motivated crimes, and the demographic information of victims of homicide* specifically to reflect the sex of the victims. (*noting this section will be updated upon a Criminal Code definition of femicide).
The Board is requesting your input related to drafting of their correspondence to the Government of Canada and amending the following LPSB Policies, which can be found on the LPSB page of the LPS website in their current format:
- Hate Bias Motivated Crime Policy #10
- Domestic Violence Occurrences Policy #27
See link to LPSB Policies here.
We value your expertise, experience and commitment to addressing male violence against women, and commitment to your community. Please send your comments to the London Police Services Board by July 31, 2022.
The Board will share its final draft letter and revised draft Policies with you and looks forward to your input and support. Thank you in advance for contributing to this important work.
Sincerely,
Susan Toth
Chair, London Police Services Board
For media inquiries, contact:
Jennifer Foster
Administrator, London Police Services Board
Email: London Police Services Board