HALIFAX – A Nova Scotia legislative committee has heard disturbing testimony about gender-based violence from a mother of four.
Lucy Bowser described how her spouse allegedly subjected her and her children to harassment, while the police and the courts seemed unable to help.
The testimony was part of a wider discussion about gender-based violence, a problem the province declared to be an epidemic last September.
Bowser says her youngest children endured threats of kidnapping, unfounded allegations and harassment.
She says they were so traumatized that her daughter did not leave their home for two years, and her son encouraged her to sleep with a crowbar in her bed for protection.
In the past seven months, police in Nova Scotia have reported the deaths of seven women were the result of intimate partner violence, a distressing spike that has led to increased scrutiny of how the province is responding.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2025.
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