We have recently filed a request, under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Ontario), to Legal Aid Ontario in order to attain statistics regarding domestic violence in Ontario within the last five years. Specifically, we are looking to receive information involving the number of men and women who have been charged with a domestic violence offence against a partner of the opposite sex within a domestic relationship, the number of men and women who have been a victim of a domestic violence offence by a partner of the opposite sex within a domestic relationship, and statistics regarding the number of cases of female and male domestic violence that have resulted in convictions as well as a withdrawal of charges.
The primary reason as to why we are seeking this information is to provide ourselves and the public with an up-to-date analysis of the domestic violence situation within Ontario. This will allow us to track any significant changes in the rates of domestic violence by both men and women within recent years and we are hoping that this information will provide the public with a clear picture of the frequency by which domestic violence affects both men and women.
Although there are many cases of domestic violence that are never reported or dealt with in Ontario, we believe that the compilation of these statistics will improve our understanding of domestic violence and may undermine some of the prevailing notions of domestic violence and its correlation to gender. As always, our goal with this request is not to advance any ideology or political agenda, but rather to raise awareness of the issues affecting men and women and the ways in which such issues can be dealt with. Perhaps, with the release of this information, social services may be improved in areas in which they are lacking.