News Release

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Recommendations from the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee for 2019 and 2020 have been posted online.

The reports contain 25 recommendations, which include 11 from the 2019 report and 14 from the 2020 report. The recommendations include:

• Ensuring that children who are exposed to domestic violence and domestic homicide have immediate and long-term access to specialized services at no cost to families.
• Enhancing prevention and education on illicit use of drugs and criminal behaviours, increasing risk of harm or death.
• Ensuring that people entering substance abuse or detox centres are screened to determine whether they could be victims or perpetrators of intimate partner violence.

Both reports also include responses from relevant government agencies and WorkSafeNB.

“The Domestic Violence Death Review Committee’s work is essential to learning from these tragedies,” said Justice and Public Safety Minister Hugh J. Flemming. “Everyone can play a role in preventing domestic abuse. I would like to thank all the committee members for their work to address this difficult issue.”

The committee assists Coroner Services in reviewing deaths that occur as a result of domestic violence and makes recommendations to help prevent such deaths in similar circumstances.

The committee provides a confidential multi-disciplinary review of domestic violence deaths. It creates and maintains a comprehensive database about the victims and perpetrators of domestic violence fatalities and their circumstances.

“Improving our understanding of the causes behind domestic homicide is crucial,” said chief coroner Jérome Ouellette. “The committee helps identify gaps where we can improve to prevent deaths in the future.”

The committee is comprised of a coroner, members representing law enforcement, Public Prosecutions Services, health, academia, research, interested residents and government, as well as service providers such as probation services, victim services and social services.

Also published online is a 20-year review of domestic homicide cases from 1999 to 2018 prepared by researchers at the University of New Brunswick.