Calgarians are being asked to contemplate an ugly but very real statistic this month: Alberta has the highest rate of domestic violence in the country.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier has declared November “Family Violence Prevention Month” in Calgary. “We’re just trying to get people to sit up and take notice,” says Tatiana Tomljanovic with the Alliance to End Violence. “While it’s important everywhere, and family violence exists in every corner of the Earth, I think it’s especially pertinent for us as Albertans and us as Calgarians to recognize and try and raise awareness on family violence.” Tomljanovic says that in addition to physical abuse, family violence includes sexual, emotional and financial abuse.
According to the Calgary Police Service’s most recent citizen survey (2005), family violence doesn’t rank very high on Calgarians’ list of policing concerns. Only four per cent listed domestic violence as their main concern, compared with 31 per cent for traffic violations and 43 per cent for illegal gang activity.
Nearly three-quarters of Canadians who killed or tried killing their spouse from 1995 to 2005 had “no prior arrest history for spousal abuse,” according to a recent Statistics Canada report.
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