In the early hours of July 25, 2022, people in the wider Lower Mainland were jolted awake by a notification of an active shooter in Langley. The shooter appeared to be shooting unhoused people. It is appalling to think that someone would target and kill unhoused people. We continue to reckon with this killing and as they should, the BC provincial government officials issued statements on the tragedy.
Few people knew that on July 21, 2022, another shooter was killing people in Chilliwack. On that day, Amber Culley and Mimi Kates were killed in Chilliwack by a man they knew. The man wasn’t found until five days after the killing and no alert went out about the shooter being on the loose. According to online records, a man with the same name was due to appear in court on domestic violence charges the day of the shooting.
On the same day as the shooting in Langley, a woman was set on fire while sitting on a sidewalk in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Another reminder that gender-based violence continues unabated.
We couldn’t help but notice the lack of government response on the instance of femicide and attempted femicide. This silence reminds us that femicide is normalized within society and with the government.
The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability which focus on research, social & state responses to femicide, released preliminary numbers for the first 6 months of 2022.
88 women and girls have been killed so far in 2022, which means that 1 woman or girl continues to be killed every other day. BC is 2nd with the highest number of killings with 15 women or girls who have been killed so far. These numbers are consistent with covid times but a-typical of what we have seen prior to covid.
We know that for every woman who is killed, there are thousands living in fear.
At BWSS 94,736 is the number of times someone experiencing domestic or sexualized violence reached out to us since March 2020.
And that’s why we do the work we do every day providing support services that include individualized crisis intervention, emergency housing, accompaniment, assistance with police statements, and support in languages other than English. And advocacy that includes how to survive a housing crisis, preparation for and accompaniment to family and immigration law hearings, and access to lawyers that specialize in family, immigration, and child welfare.
For support call us 24/7 at 1-855-687-1868 Or email us at intake@bwss.org
Keep BWSS on the Frontline 24/7
