'Throwing money at Band-Aids': Advocates tell N.S. government to do more on gender-based violence

Taryn Grant · CBC News

· Posted: May 14, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Meghan Hansford says gender-based unit is simply a societal illness akin to cancer, and officials are focusing connected treatments, but the smarter attack would beryllium to crook their regard to prevention.

"We request to forestall the crab from happening, earlier the crisis and earlier it's excessively late," she said Tuesday astatine Province House.

Hansford, who has a PhD successful household unit involution and prevention, was among a sheet of advocates and experts connected gender-based unit invited to talk astatine the legislature's wellness committee astir the issue.

The sheet reiterated galore of the aforesaid concerns they've been highlighting successful caller months arsenic Nova Scotia has witnessed a spate of homicides related to intimate spouse violence. Among the asks the panellists made to the authorities are accrued halfway backing for shelters, much second-stage lodging and greater entree to intelligence wellness supports.

The state precocious dedicated immoderate further backing to modulation houses, but Hansford said she's inactive not seeing capable resources directed to prevention.

"We person started to person immoderate absorbing conversation, but that is wherever I spot the littlest magnitude of enactment and action," she said.

Hansford added that preventive measures — specified arsenic acquisition for the wide nationalist and for professionals successful wellness attraction and justness who tin intervene erstwhile they spot aboriginal informing signs — person the biggest impact.

She said focusing connected situation effect is "throwing wealth astatine Band-Aids."

Josie McKinney, acting enforcement manager of Nova Scotia's Status of Women Office, said determination are conversations happening successful authorities astir however to summation prevention efforts.

"The different happening the state is looking astatine is however to crook each effect into an accidental to prevent," she said successful an interrogation pursuing the committee meeting.

"While we bash privation to get up of something, erstwhile thing happens, however are we showing up to forestall it from happening again?"

Hansford and others astatine the gathering expressed immoderate skepticism astir the effect of their advocacy connected an contented that is long-standing and getting worse.

"Conversations are large and a bully starting point, but we've besides been having these conversations for decades," she said. 

Hansford pointed to an abundance of grounds and recommendations that person travel retired of Nova Scotia's wide casualty committee and the Desmond fatality inquiry, arsenic good arsenic the nationalist enquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

"The conversations request to determination into action, into factual action. And determination were a fewer suggestions astir this contiguous and we request to support that momentum moving forward," she added.

Ann de Ste Croix, enforcement manager of the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia, echoed that sentiment.

When she came into her relation a fewer years ago, de Ste Croix said, she took cues from her predecessors.

"I americium saying the aforesaid happening that they've been saying for decades," she told the committee.

"As has been shared galore times before, we request semipermanent investment, we request collaboration, we request a shared committedness to transforming the systems that survivors trust on."