An expert on rural economy and society said on Thursday that domestic violence is under-reported in rural communities. nova scotia mass shooting Due to which 22 people died.
Dalhousie University sociologist Karen Foster said that the community closeness and social cohesion that is typical in rural areas “have a double edge.” This closeness can prompt rural residents to resolve issues among themselves and protect each other, resulting in them collectively hiding domestic abuse, he said.
“Some crimes are considered shameful that you don’t bring up in public,” Foster said, adding that members of rural communities may reduce or ignore domestic violence to avoid involving the authorities.
“In rural communities, there are often large, well-known families whose reputations matter to them,” she said. “So things like this are dealt with quietly or not at all.”
There is often a tendency to mistrust women or downplay the violence they are experiencing, she said.
Gabriel Wortman, the gunman who killed 22 people in rural Nova Scotia in April 2020, began his fury after attacking his wife, Lisa Banfield. Interrogation interviews have found that the gunman has a decades-long history of violence against women and attacked both Banfield and his first wife, who is not named in question.
Brenda Forbes, the gunman’s former neighbor, told interrogation that she told police in 2013 that Wortman had illegal weapons when she filed a complaint about an alleged incident of domestic violence in Portapique, NS.
The May 3 investigation released a summary of the evidence – known as a foundational document – that said the responding officers had taken “minimal notes” at the time of the Forbes complaint and that other information was stored in the RCMP files. was removed from.
role of gender based violence
Among other things, the mandate of the public inquiry includes examining the role of gender-based violence.
In a research report commissioned by the investigation, two professors from Monash University in Australia found that all mass shootings in Western countries in recent decades have been committed by men.
The paper concludes that there is a “significant minority” of mass shootings that also include targeting specific women, “often an intimate partner as the first victim” and that there is growing evidence of links between gender-based violence and mass shootings. . Shooting.
“To better understand, prevent and respond to mass casualty attacks, there is a need to better understand, prevent and respond to gender-based violence,” the paper says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 30, 2022.
© 2022 Canadian Press