A Nova Scotia women’s group is urging the provincial government to provide more leadership amid a string of intimate partner violence deaths in the last three months.  

Ann de Ste Croix, executive director of the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia, says the provincial government has maintained a “troubling silence” on the six women killed since October by their male partners.

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The executive director says women in the province need assurance that their safety is a priority for the government of Premier Tim Houston.

She says the province must provide a sustainable level of funding for women’s shelters, longer-term housing for people fleeing domestic abuse, and programs for men at risk of being violent toward their partners.

Since October six women in the province have been killed by their male partners, five of whom killed themselves shortly after.

In September, the Nova Scotia government declared intimate partner violence an “epidemic.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2025.