Hanes: Three femicides in two weeks, and what are we doing about it?

Violence against women and children has barely registered as an election issue.

Residents of a Brossard high-rise were awakened by a fire alarm in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but what they saw after they evacuated their units around 1 a.m. was far worse than smoke and flames.

Firefighters responding to the call found an unconscious woman and two young children in the apartment where the blaze originated. But they soon suspected the casualties had little to do with the fire.

Neighbours told the media that during the drama they caught heartbreaking glimpses of paramedics trying revive the children, ages 5 and 2, while rushing them to a hospital, where they later died.

Police detained the woman’s spouse and the father of the two boys at the scene. Longueuil police later confirmed a triple homicide had taken place. Mohamad Al Ballouz, 36, was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree murder, one of second-degree murder and arson from his hospital bed where he was recovering from minor injuries.

At least one organization that works with the victims of conjugal violence mourned Synthia Bussière, the 38-year-old mother, as Quebec’s latest femicide.

Tragically — appallingly — this is the third femicide in greater Montreal in two weeks.

On Sept. 16, Viergemene Toussaint, 42, was found dead in her apartment on Lacordaire Blvd. by a friend who was worried when she couldn’t reach her. Antoine Coby, 36, who now stands charged with her murder, was Toussaint’s ex-boyfriend, according to Montreal police.

On Sept. 8, Gisèle Ital Betondi was stabbed in the parking lot outside her LaSalle home, while buckling two of her three young children into the car to take them to daycare. Her estranged husband, Hosea Amorus Puhya, has been charged with first-degree murder.

The latest slayings bring the total number of femicides in Quebec so far in 2022 to 10. In 2021, 17 of 26 women murdered in the province were killed by a current or former partner. For the purposes of highlighting the horrific nature of this social scourge, femicide is more appropriate than the commonly used conjugal/family/domestic violence. These euphemistic terms minimize the gravity of such crimes — especially when two children have paid the price for this social scourge with their own lives and three others, including an infant, have lost their mother.

With an election campaign under way, party leaders have reacted to the spate of senseless deaths by expressing sadness. Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault tweeted that the latest incident “breaks my heart” and shared contact information for SOS Violence Conjugale, reachable at 1-800-363-9010. Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade, the only woman at the helm of a Quebec political party presently, was quick to voice her outrage over the earlier killings.

Yet violence against women and children has barely registered as an election issue. Quebecers should be incensed about the series of femicides — and demanding answers.

For all the awareness about the rising death toll, the carnage has continued. Statistics suggest as many as one in three women will experience an abusive relationship in her lifetime, yet society is perpetually surprised when violence spills out from behind closed doors. Other data suggest women are at greatest risk of dying when they try to leave a toxic relationship.

Are sufficient programs in place to provide support during breakups? Financial resources have been added to find shelters and help lines, but are they enough? More must be done to prevent these tragedies.

In the case of Betondi, the young mother’s aunt and cousin told La Presse she was trapped in a vicious cycle from which she had difficulty escaping. Although her husband was charged with abuse and later detained for violating his court conditions, he was eventually acquitted of uttering a threat when Betondi ended up testifying in his defence at his trial.

Would a new legal program set up to help triage domestic violence cases have made a difference? Survivors often speak of a justice system stacked against them, including courts that don’t weigh intimate partner violence into custody and co-parenting arrangements.

A coroner’s report on the murder of two Montreal children by their father in 2019 recommended that the entire health and social services sector be mobilized to communicate better. Coroner Stéphanie Gamache said a suicidal Jonathan Pomares should never have been released from a psychiatric institution before he killed Hugo, 7, and Élise, 5, hanged himself, and left his wife to make the traumatic discovery.

Were warning signs missed in the latest slayings? Did systems fail? Will people ever see the danger before it’s too late?

Bussière and her sons deserve to be remembered and grieved through the marshalling of all necessary resources to counter a heartbreaking epidemic.

ahanes@postmedia.com

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