Gynocides in Canada: Daphné Huard-Boudreault

One of the reasons I am writing a book about the sexualization of women and violence against women is because there is so much violence against women in Canada. This week the media has covered one more of the preventable gynocides that has occurred under this sad state of affairs. Eighteen-year-old Daphné Huard-Boudreault was stabbed to death by her 22-year-old ex-boyfriend when she returned to their shared apartment to collect her belongings, in spite of the fact that she was accompanied by a police officer and her stepmother. She had requested protection from the police because that morning she had found him waiting for her inside her car. According to CBC News, “[…] Huard-Boudreault was frightened and frustrated, asking her co-workers whether her ex would have to kill her for police to do something.”[1] The morning of Huard-Boudreault’s murder the police spoke to her ex-boyfriend “before concluding there wasn't anything they could do to help her.”[2] What is the point of a police force if it cannot protect its citizens? The problem behind the police's ineffectual response lies in the fact that police forces are created and run by men. A police force managed by women would protect women much more effectively.

[1] CBC News, Police officer was with Quebec woman when she was slain, distraught father says, March 23, 2017

[2] CBC News, Police officer was with Quebec woman when she was slain, distraught father says, March 23, 2017

© 2017 Alline Cormier