Day 6: Why the question “Why doesn’t she just leave?” hurts my ears
One of the most common misconceptions about domestic violence is that it occurs within a relationship, and ends when the relationship does. Leaving a relationship does not stop the abuse. They are separate issues only connected by the individuals involved.
Recently in the Edmonton area there have been two high profile domestic murders that shine light on the enduring nature of domestic abuse. Both women were murdered long after the relationships had ended. The first, Nadine Skow, had broken off the relationship more than a year prior to her ex-partner breaking into her home and stabbing her 17 times. She had moved across the province to hide from him. She was preparing to move again. The second, Colleen Sillito, had sought police protection and had a Court Order barring him from contacting her; he had already violated the Order at least once. She was also in a new relationship. But the abuse did not end. In both cases, the women had taken significant steps toward protecting themselves.
Almost half of retirees are in debt. While their total debt might be lower, older Canadians are accumulating debt at a faster rate than their children and grandchildren. The question is, why this is the first generation of seniors willing to risk their retirement by taking on so much debt late in life? In truth, seniors are facing the pressure to go into debt for three main reasons.
Until recently, the nature and level of care and assistance received by First Nations, Metis and Inuit women in the Yukon was “all over the map”. Due to the existence of “negative social responses” to those who report violence, many Indigenous women choose to deal with complex violent situations on their own. 
I am a confident writer, always have been. But I recently chanced on a column I’d written in 2004 by that hang-about village idiot, Bill O’Reilly, on Fox News, and my blood froze. That was the year I was first hit by online bursts of hate. I’d reached the 10-year point at which the wonderful U.S. journalist Michelle Goldberg has suggested that online feminist writers might well burn out. A decade of being called a “c—t” and an “ugly bitch”? It saps the soul.
