MEDIA RELEASE: Campaign Aims to “Turn the Tide” on Domestic Violence

Dartmouth – Nova Scotia has seen a terrifying rise in incidents of domestic and intimate partner violence, which has resulted in at least seven known deaths of women since October 2024. Federal statistics show that the number of reported acts of intimate partner violence causing violent harm or death has risen in Nova Scotia from 2,972 to 3,187. Since 2019, the number of women and children seeking help from women’s shelters in this province has increased by 182 per cent. And these are just the reported and known statistics.

“Domestic violence doesn’t stop at home: it permeates all areas of our lives, including our workplaces,” said NSGEU President Sandra Mullen, “Many NSGEU members working on the front line – social workers, health care workers, correctional officers, and many more – work with victims and survivors of domestic violence on a regular basis, and bear witness to the toll it takes on these individuals and the people who care for them.”

Moreover, workers experiencing domestic violence report that the abuse often permeates their own workplace in the form of abusive phone calls or text messages, stalking or harassment, and that it affects their work performance and attendance, as well as their coworkers. There is also the serious risk that perpetrators may come into the workplace and commit acts of violence.

As a union representing 38,000 workers – more than 70 per cent of whom are women and are therefore disproportionately impacted by domestic violence – we recognize we have an important role to play in trying to address this crisis.

Specifically, recommendation #14 of the Mass Casualty Report calls for mobilizing a society-wide response, which includes “Non-governmental bodies, including learning institutions, professional and trade associations, and businesses, declare gender-based, intimate partner, and family violence to be an epidemic that warrants a meaningful and sustained society-wide response.”

That is why today, in honour of International Women’s Day, the NSGEU is calling on employers to help Turn the Tide, and sign on to a pledge, which both recognizes the epidemic of domestic violence and calls on them to take steps towards addressing it.

All employers in Nova Scotia are encouraged to sign on. Those who successfully complete action items towards fulfilling their pledge will receive a sign that identifies them as an organization that has taken a meaningful step toward ending this epidemic.