Femicide case frustrating, sad but not surprising, London advocate says

A 56-year-old man will return to court on Tuesday for a charge of second-degree murder, laid in a case London police have called an act of femicide.

Officers responded to the unit of a residential building at 297 Westminster Ave. around 5:15 a.m. on Friday for a reported death, and found a 47-year-old woman with a "traumatic injury."

The woman, whose identity has not been released by police, was pronounced dead in hospital.

Sources tell CBC News the victim was the wife of the accused, Alton Farquharson, 56, of London, who was arrested at the scene and later charged with second-degree murder.

Court documents obtained by CBC News identify the victim as Tasha Farquharson.

In their statement on Friday, police took the step of explicitly stating that the case had been characterized as a femicide, something they hadn't done previously.

Farquharson appeared in court on Friday and was remanded into custody, with a court date scheduled for Tuesday. He has no prior matters on file at London's courthouse, court staff said.

Responding to the news, one local advocate against gender-based violence said that another recorded femicide in the city was frustrating, sad, but not surprising, noting the high demands for service that continue to be seen at local support agencies.

"Things have not slowed down for us. Our shelters are full. Our phone is ringing. We are constantly scheduling in people for counselling services," said Jessie Rodger, executive director of London-based Anova, Ontario's largest women's shelter.

According to Rodger, the shelter receives around 1,000 calls a month through its crisis and support line, and has to turn away four to five women a day because of a lack of space.

The agency also participates in a committee with other local organizations that provide wraparound supports for women identified as being at high risk for femicide, they added.

"That's how serious this is, that we have a whole committee dedicated to protecting and supporting the most absolutely vulnerable women in this community, and yet we still had a femicide on Friday," said Rodger.

The case adds to the 137 femicides that have been reported across the country so far this year, according to a tally from the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability at the University of Guelph.

"It's devastating ... women are not disposable," said Megan Walker, the former head of the London Abused Women's Centre and former London Police Services Board member. The City of London declared femicide and intimate partner violence an epidemic in 2023.