Where can you brutally beat a woman close to death and suffer no consequences? Right here in Manitoba.

Why are there no consequences? The majority of women will not press charges against the perpetrator.

I have had badly beaten women, blood dripping from their wounds, sit in my living room while hugging their crying children and explain to me why they can’t press charges.

Why do savagely beaten women not press charges? Most of the women are terrified of further beatings or brutality for speaking out, from the attacker or his friends and family.

Manitoba, which has a record number of women MLAs, is a place you can beat up a woman with few consequences. - Christine Burrows

Surely neighbours have seen the violence? They usually have and many are willing to testify on the victim’s behalf, but nobody gathers their information.

The police frequently see the aftermath of family assaults—battered, bleeding and bruised women—when they come to stop the crime after neighbours call the emergency number.

It seems ridiculous that the police will not press charges, but they say they don't because if they arrest the offender the Crown will not prosecute a case in which the victim will not testify against the perpetrator.

The Crown prosecutors say they cannot take a case in front of a judge if the victim is not pressing charges, because they say the judge will just throw the case out.

So a violent person can beat up a woman with very little chance of consequences. Often the police arrest the perpetrator, but as soon as it is clear the beaten woman will not testify the charges are dropped. To the public it seems ridiculous. If a woman is murdered, she is not required to testify against her murderer; however, if she is "just" beaten, she must testify.

Beating normalized

Some families grow up in an environment where violence against women is the normal behaviour. Children watch women being beaten regularly with no repercussions, so they assume that beating women is acceptable.

So if the whole justice system refuses to help a silent victim, is it any wonder that many women go from being a silent battered woman to a mute murdered woman? The woman still remains silent, but once a dead body exists, action has to be taken.

How can we change this deplorable situation? How can we protect vulnerable beaten women? Can we insist that there is a change in the justice system, starting at the top with the judges and down through the Crown attorneys and the police?

It seems to be a joke that this was recommended in a commission of inquiry 17 years ago. After the murder of Rhonda Lavoie by her husband, a report was produced that was the guide to dealing with family violence.

Recommendation 22 sets out strategies that Crown attorneys should use to ensure cases proceed to trial without the victim’s participation. This recommendation was written by a judge, who recognized that we place an unfair burden on women victims of violence. This recommendation has not been implemented.

Victims shamed

I feel the shame of the violence perpetrated against women, particularly aboriginal women. I feel the shame of living in the province with the highest rate of murdered and disappeared women. I understand and support the call for an inquiry into murdered and missing aboriginal women.

We need to look at how easy it was for Manitoba to forget the recommendations of an inquiry written in 1997. Manitoba, which has a record number of women MLAs, is a place you can beat up a woman with few consequences. Men learn from experience; beat up a woman, and not much happens. Unfortunately some move on to murder.

Stopping violence against women is a complex problem. We can start with ensuring that the men who beat and bloody women are successfully charged and brought to trial.

Christine Burrows is an inner-city resident and co-ordinator of North Point Douglas Citizens on Watch.