Chatham-Kent has followed the lead of over 70 other municipalities in Ontario and declared intimate partner violence an epidemic.
Ward 6 Councillor Alysson Storey brought the motion forward at the end of November and it received unanimous assent on Monday.
Storey's motion cited the 86 recommendations in the Renfrew County Inquest, and the fact that every six days in Canada a woman is killed by her intimate partner.
According to the motion, 1,788 calls were made to Chatham-Kent police about domestic violence in 2022, adding that only 20 per cent of intimate partner violence gets reported at all.
Now that council has made its stance known, the Police Services Board will be asked to integrate intimate partner violence into the Police Service's Community Safety and Well Being Plan.
Mayor Darrin Canniff will also be requested to write a letter to Premier Doug Ford asking that the province change their previous decision regarding intimate partner violence and gender-based violence and act on all of the 86 recommendations from the Renfrew County Inquest.
