Those pushing the Ontario government to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic insist they're not going anywhere no matter what happens Tuesday night when Bill 173 is up for a second reading.
The Ford government has indicated it will support the legislation.
When MPPs vote, there will be 200 advocates sitting in the gallery, including Fartumo Kusow of Windsor, whose daughter Sahra Bulle was allegedly murdered by her husband last year.
The legislation is co-sponsored by Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, London West MPP Peggy Sattler, Krysten Wong-Tam of Toronto Centre, and Jill Andrews of Toronto-St. Paul's.
The provincial declaration is just one of 86 recommendations from the Renfew Inquest into the murders of Anastasia Kuzyk, Carol Culleton, and Nathalie Warmerdam by the same man on the same day in 2015.
So far, 94 Ontario municipalities have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic, but not the Province of Ontario.
The government resisted the declaration earlier, saying it's not an infectious or communicable disease.
Kusow stood before reporters on Tuesday morning to let the government know she believed it was wrong.
"Sahra Bulle left behind 52 family members," she said. "With every blow she suffered, with every black eye she brought home, every attempt of her trying to rescue herself or allowing us to rescue her impacted us and invaded pervasively every cell of our being."
The last time Kusow saw her daughter, she warned her she was afraid she'd pick her up in a body bag one day. She did three weeks later.
Gretzky said the declaration is only a first step. Making Bill 173 law will validate the experiences of survivors, increase funding for transitional housing, provide money for public education, change how the system engages with perpetrators, and coordinate agency efforts.
She said even if the bill survives its second reading, it could go to the committee stage and never see the light of day again. She urged the Ford government not to let that happen.
"If the government thinks that we are going to be silent, that we are just going to go away because they won't declare this or because they dismiss it, they're very, very wrong. They're very, very wrong, and they're just as bad as the perpetrators," she said.
For Kusow, it is shocking the government hasn't already acted.
"What's even more tragic than the women we've lost is that we're still asking for this to be named," she said. "2024. Just think about how tragic that is."
