We Refuse to Stop Here: The PSAC London Regional Women’s Committee (LRWC), supported by the PSAC London Area Council (LAC), PSAC Southwestern Pride Committee (SWPC), PSAC Southwestern Members with Disabilities Access Committee (SWMDAC), PSAC Southwestern Indigenous Peoples Action Circle (SWIAC) and PSAC Southwestern Racialized Committee (SWRC) Demands Full Accountability as Canada Finally Classifies Femicide as First-Degree Murder
The PSAC London Regional Women’s Committee (along with LAC, SWPC, SWMDAC, SWIAC and SWRC) expresses its profound solidarity and immense relief following Canada’s historic reclassification of femicide as first-degree murder (The Protecting Victims Act, Bill C-16, which will come into force on July 18, 2026). We wholeheartedly applaud this monumental legislative shift. It is a long-overdue victory won through decades of tireless resistance, fierce grassroots struggle, and unwavering advocacy by frontline workers, survivors, and women’s organizations.
This decisive legal change finally validates the unique, lethal dangers women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people face daily. Our communities across Southwestern Ontario continue to be ground zero for this crisis. Annual tracking confirms that over 43 women are violently killed each year in Ontario, with local communities from London and Windsor to rural Leamington and Simcoe directly impacted. Advocates warn that at least 48 rural femicides have devastated Ontario rural region over just a five-year span.
By explicitly naming femicide, the law pulls this systemic crisis out of the shadows. It strips away the invisibility that has historically shielded gender-motivated killers. Data compiled by provincial trackers highlights that 79% of Ontario femicides occur inside or directly outside a residence, with 21% taking place in rural or small population centers, a geographic reality heavily impacting Southwestern Ontario. This new classification ensures the justice system finally recognizes that systemic misogyny is inherently premeditated. It acknowledges that gender-motivated killings are not isolated crimes of passion, but the predictable, fatal end point of structural violence.
While we applaud this progress, we must be clear: the work is far from finished. We refuse to let a change in legal language mask ongoing systemic inaction.
Canada continues to face devastating issues impacting women including:
- The MMIWG2S+ Crisis: The ongoing targeting and murder of Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people.
- Intimate Partner Violence: Escalating, daily terror within homes across our communities.
- Systemic Misogyny: Institutional failure and gender-based violence in all its complex forms.
Indigenous women, girls, gender-diverse and Two-Spirit people remain disproportionately targeted by systemic violence. Survivors of coercive control and domestic abuse still face immense barriers to safety, housing, and trauma-informed justice. Meanwhile, frontline community organizations and emergency shelters upon which victims depend continue to operate under chronic underfunding. We cannot and will not allow this moment to become a political endpoint. It must be a revolutionary starting point.
The PSAC London Regional Women’s Committee, along with LAC, SWPC, SWMDAC, SWIAC and SWRC calls on all levels of government to immediately move beyond words and execute real structural changes:
- Implement the Calls for Justice: Stop delaying and act on the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into MMIWG2S+.
- Fund the Frontlines: Provide preventative education, emergency shelters, and long-term community support with permanent, robust funding.
- Enforce and Align Provincially: The Ontario government must align local judicial resources, police training, and prosecutorial budgets with this new federal standard. Federal laws require immediate and assertive local enforcement to save lives.
- Protect Survivors of Coercive Control: Implement ironclad, systemic protection for survivors fleeing psychological and physical entrapment.
- Organize Labour and Grassroots: Work directly with unions, community networks, and frontline advocates to build genuinely safe workplaces and neighbourhoods.
We honour the survivors, families, and grassroots advocates whose tireless advocacy and extraordinary courage drove this long-overdue legislative change. We commit our committees’ resources, platform, and collective power to continuing that fight on the ground until every woman, girl, gender-diverse and Two-Spirit person in Canada can live free from violence.
In Solidarity,
PSAC London Regional Women’s Committee (LRWC)
PSAC London Area Council (LAC)
PSAC Southwestern Pride Committee (SWPC)
PSAC Southwestern Members with Disabilities Access Committee (SWMDAC)
PSAC Southwestern Indigenous Peoples Action Circle (SWIAC)
PSAC Southwestern Racialized Committee (SWRC)