Cord Community Edition: November 2013

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THE CORD

News

URBAN EXPLORING

Arts & Culture

RIM Park’s legacy, ten years on

The best soup to beat the cold

K-W gets geeky with two fests

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COMMUNITY Waterloo Region’s independent monthly • Vol 2 Issue 2• November 8, 2013 • community.thecord.ca

THE DEAFENING SILENCE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE iN K-W

Graphic by Kate Turner Visual Designer

lauren ward NEWS editor

A

buse is one of the worst things a person can do to another person. What can be equally bad is witnessing that abuse and not doing anything about it. It is not uncommon for most people to look the other way. “Silence is a major factor,” said Carolyn Albrecht, senior director

of operations at the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. “When people see their neighbours in these situations, they are more likely to be like ‘that’s kind of their own business. We really shouldn’t get involved.’ That is the attitude toward abuse. People feel discomfort. It isn’t an easy thing to talk about.” Another major factor is that no one ever thinks this is going to happen to them, so when it does, it comes as a surprise. “Well what made it hard for me to get out of that situation was the fact that it didn’t

happen very often,” explained Ashley (who asked that her last name be omitted), a former Wilfrid Laurier University student. “It was mostly emotional and verbal abuse. It only happened a few times physically, so it was easier to make excuses. Plus he had a way of turning the tables and making it partly or entirely my fault. So sometimes I really thought and believed I was in the wrong. And of course I loved him.” Statistics show that Ashley’s story is not unusual. In 2011, Waterloo Regional Police

reported over 6,000 domestic dispute calls to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and also responded to one domestic dispute call every 1.5 hours. One of the most chilling facts is that since 1995, there have been 16 intimate partner homicides in Waterloo Region. “Unfortunately, because of the silence it is really hard to get statistics on unreported cases. The only figures we can really get are Continued on page 5 >>


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