Intimate Partner Violence in Canada: Where We're At in 2025

She left her partner that morning and has been calling every shelter from her car, parked outside a grocery store. Each one is full. When the last operator says the wait will be five days, she starts the car and drives until the tank runs dry.

Stories like hers appear across the country every month. Despite new laws and public awareness campaigns, intimate partner violence in Canada continues to rise, leaving women in Vancouver and beyond to question whether they are truly safer. The gap between policy and protection has become the quiet space where fear lives.

Why Intimate Partner Violence in Canada Keeps Rising

Police reported more than 128,000 victims of intimate partner violence in 2024, and four out of five were women or girls. The rate for women remains over three times higher than for men.

Since 2018, reports have climbed 14 percent with no lasting decline. These numbers suggest that awareness alone has not changed the danger. Behind every statistic is a person measuring her day by risk, not routine.

If violence is this widespread, why does it continue even as awareness campaigns grow louder every year?

What Canada’s Domestic Violence Laws Miss About Real Safety

Ottawa’s latest bail and sentencing reforms promise to keep repeat offenders from walking free before sentencing (source). On paper, it looks decisive.

In practice, safety depends on what happens after the court hearing ends. A woman can hold a restraining order and still have nowhere safe to sleep that night. Others spend hours refreshing shelter websites, waiting for a vacancy that might never come.

Recent domestic violence laws in Canada focus on punishment, not protection. They can detain an offender but cannot guarantee a bed, a phone call, or a roof that feels safe. For many in Vancouver, that is where the protection gap begins.

When Women Report Abuse but End Up Back Home. For someone escaping violence, that wait can mean the difference between safety and another assault.

Battered Women’s Support Services has reported a steady increase in crisis calls. Many callers have already spoken to police or secured restraining orders. They describe a system that tells them to leave but gives them nowhere to go.

Shelter workers warn that women often return to dangerous homes out of exhaustion or lack of options. Every time that happens, the promise of reform loses weight. Each statistic that counts a woman as “helped” hides another who gave up trying.

If reforms are meant to close these gaps, can tougher laws really reach into the spaces where safety fails?

Can Tougher Laws Stop Repeat Offenders

Supporters of stronger custody rules believe that repeat abusers should remain in jail until sentencing. They argue that predictable tragedies could be prevented if violent partners were not released. They point to cases across the country where early bail ended in murder.

Critics, including legal advocates and social workers, caution that jail alone does not change behaviour. Without supervision, treatment, or structured follow-up, violence often resumes after release. They warn that new bail reforms for violence against women might sound strong but still fail victims twice—once in court and again when the system forgets what happens next.

Women navigating these risks do not debate policy. They simply want to know if the person who hurt them will be close enough to knock on their door again.

Why Prevention and Support Still Matter More Than Headlines

Roughly 80 percent of intimate partner violence incidents never reach police. That silence is not denial—it is often survival. Many victims weigh the choice between calling for help and losing their housing, income, or child custody.

Community programs and financial supports can give women a path out before violence turns deadly. When those services are underfunded, stricter laws cannot fill the void. Real safety comes from the combination of prevention, stability, and quick access to protection—not paperwork alone.

Across British Columbia, outreach teams try to bridge this gap through counselling and housing support, yet demand continues to exceed capacity. Until prevention receives the same urgency as punishment, Canada will continue to confuse legal progress with safety progress.

What Safety Looks Like in Vancouver Right Now

Safety is still possible when connection replaces isolation. VictimLink BC offers 24-hour phone and text support at 1-800-563-0808. . Battered Women’s Support Services provides crisis counselling and legal advocacy at 604-687-1867. . The Vancouver Police Domestic Violence Unit assists with safety planning and protection orders (Vancouver Police Department).

If you need immediate protection tonight:

1. Call 911 if you are in danger.

2. Contact VictimLink BC for shelter placement or emergency safety planning.

3. Keep a packed bag, charger, and identification ready in case you must leave quickly.

   
   

Each call logged adds pressure for stronger funding, more beds, and faster support. The protection gap has not closed, but every woman who reaches out narrows it a little further.