The death of Dr. Laura Gover in Saanich on January 5, 2026, is a tragedy that should never have happened. It is also part of a grim and unmistakable pattern when it comes to Intimate Partner Violence. Similar to Bailey McCourt, who was allegedly murdered by her estranged husband this past summer in Kelowna, Laura did everything right to protect herself and yet was failed by a system and a government that seems to value reviews, reports and recommendations over results.
One year ago, Premier David Eby declared gender-based violence an “epidemic” in British Columbia. That declaration followed the release of Safe and Supported: B.C.’s Gender-Based Violence Action Plan in December 2023.
In June 2025, after being commissioned by BC’s Attorney General Niki Sharma, Dr. Kim Stanton, a lawyer and human rights expert, released her independent systemic review: The British Columbia Legal System’s Treatment of Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence, which critiqued a system where one in three police-reported cases never reaches court, charges are often dropped, risk assessments are inconsistent, and responses from child protection, police, and family courts are siloed, underfunded, and leave survivors unprotected and often retraumatized.
The evidence is clear and the risks are well established. As shared in the Stanton Report, in British Columbia, 37 per cent of women have been sexually assaulted since the age of 15, and nearly half (48 per cent) have experienced intimate partner violence. Yet most of this violence remains hidden: 94 per cent of sexual assaults and 80 per cent of intimate partner violence are never reported to police. These figures point not to isolated incidents, but to a system that is failing to prevent harm, interrupt risk, and protect those in danger.
Recommendations included in Dr. Stanton’s Report as well as from front-line organizations like Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) have been clear, concise and actionable.
In fact, many of the recommendations of the Stanton Report mirror those provided by Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth, Representative for Children and Youth, in her July 2024 report, Don’t Look Away, which called for a collective commitment to “stop tinkering at the edges of an outdated system” and highlighted the systemic barriers caused by ministry silos and a lack of accountability at every level of the systems.
And yet, since that ‘epidemic’ declaration a year ago, at least 40 women have been killed in British Columbia, many by men they knew, many in circumstances where risk had already been identified, many with children who will now be scarred by the unimaginable trauma of losing one parent at the hands of another.
If gender-based violence, including intimate partner and sexual violence, are epidemics, as this government has rightly declared, then they demand the same seriousness, coordination, and accountability we would expect in any public health emergency.
Yet the Stanton Report Fall Update 2025 makes clear that this government’s only real intention is to continue to do what they do best: request more reports and plans as well as put together round tables, working groups, committees, and reference groups tasked with further ‘exploring’, ‘examining’, and ‘conducting additional reviews’; There is not a word of timelines, milestones or tracking methods.
It seems as though this government is afraid to take real action. They seem to be more comfortable with deferring than delivering.
And meanwhile, women and girls are paying the price.
If British Columbia is serious about ending intimate partner violence, it needs serious action with clear timelines, measurable milestones, meaningful tracking and transparent public accountability. This must include immediately appointing a dedicated, provincial lead within Public Safety or the Attorney General’s offices, with clear authority to coordinate inter-ministerial action, enforce oversight, and track implementation. Without a mandated lead empowered to break through silos and assign responsibility, accountability will remain diffuse, ensuring failure stays everyone’s problem and no one’s responsibility.
Dr. Laura Gover should still be alive. Bailey McCourt should still be alive. So should the many other women killed in British Columbia after warning signs were raised and risks were known. Their deaths are not inevitable. They are the predictable outcome of a system allowed to remain slow, fragmented, and unaccountable.
Women are dying in the gaps we have chosen to tolerate.
Declaring an epidemic is not leadership. Leadership is closing the gaps we know are killing women; now, not after the next review, the next roundtable, or the next death.
Every day women are suffering and dying in the space between words and action.
Rachelle Chartrand is the Regional Director – Okanagan for CentreBC as well as a teacher and advocate for ending intimate partner and sexual violence.
