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Ford government again refuses to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic
The Ford government has again struck down a call to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in Ontario on the same day it restarted a committee studying the topic, saying it is still serious about addressing gender-based violence.
Last year, the government backed an opposition bill that would have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic, but instead of passing it into law, it sent it to a committee tasked with hearing from survivors and advocates in the space.
Those committee hearings ran through last summer and saw almost 90 experts and witnesses.
Its findings were set to be reported back to the legislature in February before an early election call ended its work and stopped it in its tracks.
Before rising for the summer on Thursday, Progressive Conservative House Leader Steve Clark moved a motion to restart the committee where it had left off. The move was agreed.
Immediately after, the Ontario NDP repeated its call for unanimous consent to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. Some shouts of “No” came from the government side of the house, blocking it from passing.
“This government has heard loud and clear from survivors and their families, law enforcement and 100 municipalities that they must immediately declare intimate partner violence an epidemic,” Ontario NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam said in a statement Thursday.
“Today’s refusal again ignores those calls and puts survivors at risk. The house will rise for the summer, and today the Ford government chose to deny survivors the immediate resources they need to escape or recover from violence.”
Global News requested an interview with Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity Charmaine Williams on the subject. Her office responded to the request but did not agree to set one up.
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She has previously said she did not want to “rush” the declaration of an epidemic.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services listed a number of gender-based violence initiatives Ontario has either launched or signed up for.
“Ontario is addressing gender-based violence by enhancing cross-sector collaboration, increasing safety for women and children, and improving supports for survivors, their families, and perpetrators of gender-based violence,” they said.
“That is why we are investing more than $1.4 billion over the course of Ontario’s four-year action plan to end gender-based violence.”
In addition to the programs and funding initiatives they listed off, they said the committee would “continue its work” studying the issue.
“We look forward to working with all levels of government as well as sector stakeholders and Indigenous partners as we continue to build an Ontario that is free of gender-based violence and full of opportunity for all,” the spokesperson concluded
On the same day that the Ford government rejected a unanimous consent motion to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic, the New Brunswick government allowed one to pass. The Atlantic province passed the motion after discussions with labour leaders, among others.
The union Unifor said, in a statement, that the move was a welcome step.
“The accepted motion signals the government’s growing understanding, shared by the labour movement, community partners and frontline service providers, of the overwhelming need for funding, education and supports for those experiencing, fleeing and recovering from violence,” Unifor wrote.
The government in Nova Scotia has taken the same step.
Back in Ontario, the province has been resisting the same call for some time.
In 2023, the province rejected calls from an inquest into the deaths of three women at the hands of their former partner to formally declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.
The jury at a coroner’s inquest into the 2015 deaths of Nathalie Warmerdam, Carol Culleton and Anastasia Kuzyk in Renfrew County recommended declaring the epidemic.
The province said at the time it would not declare intimate partner violence an epidemic because it was not an infectious or communicable disease.
–with files from The Canadian Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Officers in Toronto have arrested four people, including a 16-year-old boy, after police allege they were found planning to steal a vehicle from Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s driveway early Tuesday morning.
Around 12:30 a.m., police said officers saw people in a vehicle wearing masks and slowing down as it approached a driveway in the area of Lawrence Avenue West and Royal York Road, the area where Ford lives.
A spokesperson for Toronto police confirmed that the incident was believed to be targeting Ford’s home address.
Police said they initiated a vehicle stop and one of the suspects got out of the car to run. Inside the car, they said they found a key reprogramming device and a programmable master key.
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Police said suspects were arrested in the vehicle, and another was caught soon after. Two were 23-year-old men from Toronto, another was 17, and the fourth was a 16-year-old, according to police.
All were charged with auto theft-related offences. Each faces a charge of possessing an electronic device for motor vehicle theft and unlawfully possessing an automobile master key, while one was also charged with failure to comply with an undertaking and resisting arrest.
Ford raised the story unprompted at an unrelated news event on Tuesday, describing a high-octane chase as the suspects came “racing” down the street.
“You want to hear about stupid criminals?” Ford said. “So four thugs come racing down my street, masks on, ready to take the car out of the driveway. Surprise, surprise, at 12:30, the two police cars are there, the chase is on.”
Ford said the interaction reinforced his view that Ontario is “turning into a lawless society” and the justice system needs to be reformed with harsher sentences for auto thefts and carjackings.
The premier is provided protection by the OPP, with Toronto police officers also stationed at his address.
“Just imagine all the unfortunate people that don’t have security at their house,” he said.
“That’s my rant, I’m sick and tired of the weak justice system that we have. They have to get a backbone, and we need to start throwing these people in jail.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he won’t be speaking with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz following the targeted shootings of two state officials because it would “waste time.”
One of the lawmakers and her husband were killed in the attacks.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday, while aboard Air Force One after leaving the G7 summit in Alberta early, that he would not be calling Walz because the Minnesota governor is “slick” and “whacked out.”
“I’m not calling him,” he added.
Trump denied claims — which he blamed on French President Emmanuel Macron — that he left because of heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.
“Publicity seeking President Emmanuel Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a ‘cease fire’ between Israel and Iran. Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong. Stay Tuned!” he wrote on Truth Social early Tuesday morning.
It is customary for presidents to speak with elected officials to offer support in times of hardship.
“The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. So, you know, I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?” Trump said of Walz.
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Over the weekend, Ontario Premier Doug Ford sent well wishes to the Minnesota governor, saying, “All of Ontario is thinking of the Hortman family and our friends in Minnesota,” for which Walz expressed his gratitude.
“My thanks to Premier Doug Ford of Ontario, who called to express his condolences to the Hortman family and the people of Minnesota. In times of tragedy, I’m heartened when people of different views and even different nations can rally together around our shared humanity,” he wrote on X on Monday.
Former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot dead in their Brooklyn Park home early Saturday.
Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were injured at their Champlin home, about 15 kilometres away.
Bullet holes mark the front door of the house of Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, who were shot earlier in the day, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Champlin, Minn.
Bruce Kluckhohn / The Associated Press
Vance Boelter, 57, is accused of impersonating a police officer while carrying out the attack, which he carefully planned during several surveillance operations.
Boelter surrendered to police on Sunday after he was apprehended in a wooded area near his home following a two-day manhunt.
This booking photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office shows Vance Boelter in Green Isle, Minn., on June 16, 2025.
Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office via AP
Acting U.S. attorney Joseph Thompson told reporters on Monday that Boelter took meticulous notes on the homes and people he was targeting in the lead-up to the fatal shootings.
Police recovered a list of 70 names from inside the fake police car that was left at the crime scene outside the Hortmans’ home, officials said Sunday.
The writings and list of names included prominent state and federal lawmakers and community leaders, along with abortion rights advocates, and information about health-care facilities, according to the officials.
Walz was the vice-presidential running mate for 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who lost her bid for the presidency to Trump. During the campaign, Walz often branded Trump and other Republican politicians as “just weird.”
— With files from The Associated Press and Global News’ Michelle Butterfield.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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DVP reopens, eastbound Gardiner Expressway closed after alleged carjacking, police pursuit
Toronto Police say the eastbound Gardiner Expressway is still closed on Tuesday morning after an alleged carjacking and police pursuit that saw one suspect jump from the expressway.
However, as of 7:30 a.m., police said the southbound DVP has reopened and the westbound Gardiner Expressway has also reopened.
The closure stems from an armed carjacking that occurred at around 11 p.m. Monday at the Shops at Don Mills, police said. The suspects then fled the scene and were pursued by officers south on the DVP.
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Police said the suspect vehicle stopped and the suspect got out and fled on foot, jumping off the Gardiner Expressway and falling onto Lake Shore Boulevard East below near Parliament Street.
Paramedics told Global News they took one person to hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
Other suspects are believed to have fled in another vehicle, investigators said.
The Special Investigations Unit has been called in to investigate. The SIU is Ontario’s police watchdog and investigates incidents involving police and civilians who are seriously injured.
The southbound DVP and the Gardiner Expressway was closed overnight for several hours for the investigation.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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