Locally, one of the groups that helps women get the help they need is Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. Along with Marianne’s Place, an emergency 28-bed shelter for women and children escaping abuse, numerous services and offices in Guelph, GWWC has more rural locations, with offices in Fergus, Erin, Palmerston and Mount Forest.

Sly Castaldi, the centre’s executive director, says the organization also receives about 3,000 calls through its 24/7 emergency line each year.

Through itS various programs and services, Castaldi says GWWC works with about 1,500 women per year, with between 50 and 75 per cent of them dealing in one way or another with domestic violence.

“I'd love to be able to tell you that things are getting better,” Castaldi says.

“More women coming forward is always a good thing because they're getting support and services that they need. Has the issue of violence against women been resolved or is it going down? I don't think so.”

Where to go from here

Addressing and solving issues around domestic homicides, and associated domestic violence, is by no means an easy problem.

It is not a uniquely Canadian or North American problem either. Last month, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released a study that found of the approximately 87,000 women killed around the world last year, about 58 per cent were at the hands of intimate partners or family members.

“While the vast majority of homicide victims are men, women continue to pay the highest price as a result of gender inequality, discrimination and negative stereotypes,” Yury Fedotov, the office’s executive director, states in a news release. "Targeted criminal justice responses are needed to prevent and end gender-related killings."

An area that could use attention in Canada, Dawson says, is guns. According to her report, the weapon of choice for people killed in domestic homicides in rural, remote or northern areas was a firearm.

“It’s the only group out of the (vulnerable populations) that has gun shootings as the most common method. The other groups, stabbing is more common than shooting,” she says.

“That's an interesting thing to take away, given that the federal government actually announced a big pot of money to combat guns and gangs in Toronto, but obviously we have an issue with guns in the rural areas that maybe needs some attention.”

According to numbers released last month by Statistics Canada, the homicide rate in rural communities was up 31 per cent in 2017 versus 2016 — much larger than the one-per-cent increase seen in urban areas.

According to Statistics Canada, the homicide rate for rural areas in Canada was higher than urban areas in 2017. The rural homicide rate also saw a larger increase over 2016, going up 31 per cent. The urban homicide rate went up one per cent during the same time frame. (Statistics Canada graphic)

Statistics Canada also found that the rate of firearm-related homicides in rural areas was higher than in urban ones, coming in 16 per cent higher nationally.

Part of addressing that issue, Dawson says, is changing societal attitudes towards domestic violence.

“Because we have focused on domestic violence and violence against women for the past few decades, (many people believe) that the problem’s actually been solved,” Dawson says, adding that while resources and services are available now, that does not necessarily mean those that need them are able to get to them.

“We have the services, but they don’t seem to be getting at the people that need them the most.”

As for women looking to get out of abusive situations, Castaldi agrees that there needs to be a focus on providing the services they need. She adds that there needs to be a focus on not only getting these people help, but to also help them move past that part of their lives.

However, many of those services are not immediately available.

“We could always use more beds (for the shelter), that’s a given. Our transition program is booked weeks in advance. Our sexual assault centre is jammed,” Castaldi says, adding other organizations both locally and provincially are facing similar problems.

“It's not like we're lacking clients. We just don't have the necessary resources to be able to provide services in a more timely fashion.”

Castaldi says part of the solution, in the long run, would be making affordable housing more available.

“Where do you go when you want to leave the shelter and you want to start your life and it's hard to find affordable housing?” she says.

“So, women are staying in those shelters longer and longer and longer. Some communities have more of a crunch than others, but we're all feeling the pinch.”

With 476 people dead in a five-year span in Canada due to domestic homicides, Dawson says finding proper, long-lasting solutions is key.

“There's a lot of people that are still living with violence in their life. I mean, we've just documented the 476 people who have died,” she says.

“There is many thousands more than that that are experiencing domestic violence in their daily lives that won’t end in death, but still need help.”