'It's gotten worse': gender-based violence on the rise in Nova Scotia
CBC
Nearly two decades have passed since Paula Gallant, a 36-year-old mother, was murdered by her husband.
Gallant was strangled in her home on Dec. 27, 2005, after arguing with her husband over a $700 online gambling debt on his credit card. Her body was later found in the trunk of her car in the parking lot outside of Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea Elementary School, where she was a Grade 3 teacher.
Gallant's husband, Jason MacRae, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2011 following a lengthy, high-profile investigation.
Her sister, Lynn Gallant-Blackburn, worries that the gender-based violence that claimed her sister's life has taken the lives of too many other Nova Scotian women.
Gallant-Blackburn published a memoir — For the Love of My Sister: Paula Gallant's Legacy — in November 2024. The book was published with the support of Women's Centres Connect.
It begins and ends with the beloved mother and teacher full of life.
"I really believed Portapique would change the mindset," Gallant-Blackburn said. "I thought that would be the differentiator.
"The then and the now? There's very little difference —as a matter of fact, I think it's gotten worse."
Within a three-month period beginning in October, police say six Nova Scotia women were killed by their male partners:
The number of women and children experiencing violence who are seeking help from women's shelters in the province has increased by 182 per cent since 2019, according to the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia.
Approximately 4,800 women and children experiencing violence accessed help from association members last year — about 13 people every day.
In September 2024, the provincial government adopted NDP Leader Claudia Chender's bill declaring domestic violence an epidemic in the province.
But advocates don't think enough is being done to address the problem.
Kristina Fifield, a trauma therapist and social worker, said community organizations that focus on prevention and support are underfunded.
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