Bill No. 482 - Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act

THE SPEAKER « » : The honourable member for Dartmouth South.

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : I move that Bill No. 482 now be read a second time.

It's a good day in this Legislature. If you're here long enough, these moments happen like shooting stars, where we all come together, usually somewhat unexpectedly, and we do what's right at the right time. This is one of those moments.

By passing this legislation today, declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic, we are enshrining the findings of the Mass Casualty Commission in law in this House. We are coming together as legislators to acknowledge the depth of this issue - the fact that 30 per cent of women report being the victims of physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partner. That means that many of us in this Chamber have experienced that - our friends, our families.

The reason that those numbers aren't changing is because of stigma. Today we are all doing a very important thing. This is not just symbolic. This is an act of breaking that stigma and acknowledging the importance of this. For that, I want to thank my colleagues. I want to thank the Mass Casualty Commission and the work they did. I want to thank all the people on the front lines of this epidemic. I want to thank Koren and Jennifer, and the women of Unifor who have worked so hard. We see you, we hear you, we love you, and we are all committed to this change.