Rural, remote, and northern B.C. communities are experiencing disproportionately high rates of intimate partner violence death, a new death review panel from the B.C. Coroners Service has found.
The panel, which released its report Monday (April 27), says its findings are “unequivocal.”
Between 2016 and 2024, at least 135 people – that includes partners, children, family members, friends, and perpetrators themselves – died as a result of intimate partner violence. Those 135 deaths happened in 107 separate incidents.
During the same period, the coroners service investigated 253 suspected homicides in which the victim was identified as biologically female. Of those homicides, at least 87, or 34 per cent, were deemed to have been caused by an act of intimate partner violence.
“Behind every number is a person whose life has been cut short,” chief coroner Dr. Jatinder Baidwan said during the report’s release Monday.
The death review panel was convened in Vancouver on Sept. 17, 2025, to review the data collected from the 135 deaths, with the goals of identifying systemic gaps and creating meaningful, actionable recommendations intended to prevent intimate partner violence related deaths.
Key findings from the review
The report included seven key findings, including that intimate partner violence-related deaths remain persistent and mostly preventable. An average of 15 people died each year as a result of these deaths between 2016 and 2024.
Women are disproportionately impacted, with 65 per cent of all those who died being biologically female, and 76 per cent of all victims killed by an intimate partner were female. The report found that those proportions remained relatively consistent through the review period.
Indigenous people are also significantly over-represented. Indigenous people represent 5.9 per cent of B.C.’s entire population; however, they accounted for 24 per cent of all intimate partner violence victims.
The report also found that firearms and sharp objects were the most common means of death, with firearm-related deaths more prevalent in rural communities.
Most victims were killed in their homes. Seventy-four per cent of people who died in a private residence were killed where they lived.
While a known history of violence was common, it wasn’t universal. Thirty-six per cent of victim-perpetrator relationships had at least one prior incident of police-reported intimate partner violence. Of those, 29 per cent of the incidents occurred within one month of the death.
More than half of the perpetrators had a history of assault.
The report also detailed the context and contributing factors to intimate partner violence-related harms.
That included persistent stigma and misconceptions that frame intimate partner violence as a private matter rather than a public health and criminal issue; barriers to reporting including fear of retaliation, shame and distrust of police, courts, and health care systems; gaps in firearm monitoring and enforcement, even when risk factors were known; and limited access to community-led, culturally grounded prevention and intervention models, particularly in rural and remote communities.
More to come.