Insights from Pamela Cross: Learning from the DVDRC Report

In her recent blog post Learning from Those Who Have Died, Pamela Cross, legal expert, feminist, member of Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, and former Legal and Advocacy Director for Luke’s Place, reflects on the 2022–2023 Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC) report, which analyzed 28 cases involving 43 deaths related to intimate partner violence.  

Cross highlights painful but necessary truths: 

• Warning signs were almost always present. Most cases showed clear histories of intimate partner violence, with multiple known risk factors identified before tragedy struck. 

• Patterns and themes emerge. The report sheds light on how age, gender, immigration status, access to firearms, and mental health intersect with domestic violence, and how systemic responses must improve. 

• Recommendations remain non-binding. Despite 66 thoughtful recommendations from the DVDRC, none are mandatory. Cross reminds readers that change requires more than awareness; it demands accountability and action. 

These deaths are not numbers on a page, but lives lost to preventable violence, a call to turn insight into action, and remembrance into real change. 

To read Pam’s full blog, click on the following link: Learning from those who have died