Dear Premier Eby and Attorney General Sharma, 

Premier Eby was recently quoted in the media in relation to the tragic murder of Tori Dunn saying that “There needs to be some reform…This guy shouldn’t have been out walking around” and “This shouldn’t have happened. It could have been prevented.” Indeed, this shouldn’t have happened. The heartbreaking and senseless violent death of Tori could, and should, have been prevented. Alas, the same is true in other cases of femicide in British Columbia. 

Stephanie Forster had a protection order against her ex-husband, yet he killed her outside her Coquitlam home in December 2022. April Mary Monk from Fort St. James was killed in February 2022 by a man who was charged the year before for assaulting her. Even though he was convicted in 2011 and in 2017 for assaulting his female partners, when he was arrested and charged for assaulting April, he was released with conditions. These conditions didn’t prevent him from killing her. In May 2022, Jian Ying “Angela” Du was killed in her Vancouver home by a man who was charged the year before for assaulting her.  He was then released with conditions that didn’t protect her.  In the summer of 2022, Amber Culley and Mimi Kates, both mothers to young children, were killed in Chilliwack by a man who was arrested and charged a couple of months prior with two counts of assault and two counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. He was released with conditions that he subsequently breached and followed through on his deadly threats. In August 2023, Brianna Jankauskas from Kelowna was killed by a man who was charged and released the year before for assaulting another woman with a weapon. In October 2023, Kulwant Kaur was killed in her New Westminster home by her husband who was convicted in the past for his uttering threats against her and for breaching the no-contact condition of his bail release. 

Routinely, men that are deemed dangerous by Crown prosecutors and judges, as evidenced by the granting of protection orders and/or no-contact as a bail condition, are released into the community and as a result, fatally harm women. 

Canada’s Criminal Code and the corresponding Provincial Policy allow pre-trial detention “for the protection or safety of the public” (including a victim). Are women not considered “the public”? Don’t women deserve protection and safety?

We are calling on you, Premier Eby and Minister Sharma, to create real measures to monitor and supervise violent men and to provide adequate training for Crown Counsel and judges so that men who are charged with assault and/or threats of violence against women are held in custody until the completion of justice proceedings. 

British Columbia must do better to ensure women’s safety and to protect women’s lives. 

Respectfully, 

Hilla Kerner, for the collective of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter