Report pleads for B.C. government funding to help end domestic violence

VICTORIA – A new report that pleads with the B.C. government to invest in the fight against domestic violence highlights a brutal set of statistics in the province for 2014.

The report, released by the Ending Violence Association of B.C., says an outbreak of domestic violence has left 18 people dead, including a child, and 11 injured since the beginning of this year.

The report calls for increased spending for existing community-based victim services and to fund new programs, making them available to every community in the province.

It also recommends early intervention counselling and management for abusive men, and an increase in the number of case-assessment teams that work to keep women and children safe.

The report was intentionally released to mark the seven-year anniversary of the murder-suicide of an Oak Bay, B.C., family where estranged husband Peter Lee killed his six-year-old son, Christian, his wife, Sunny, both her parents and then himself.

EVA B.C. spokeswoman Tracy Porteous says if she had an alarm bell she would be ringing it loudly to register serious concerns about the 18 deaths so far this year, the highest number since the Lee family murders.