The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters calling on the province to re-introduce ankle bracelets for domestic abusers.
The call comes as a case unfolds that saw two young Edmonton girls killed and their mother hospitalized in a suspected domestic violence incident.
READ MORE: 2 young children found at east Edmonton apartment were stabbed to death
Ian Wheeliker is the director of programs for the ACWS and has worked with men convicted in domestic abuse cases. He was previously head of the Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter in Red Deer, when the province funded an electronic monitoring program.
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The three-year pilot project, launched in 2012, saw Red Deer RCMP put GPS ankle bracelets on more than a dozen medium- and high-risk offenders on parole or serving sentences in the community.
Under the program, a “virtual fence” of sorts was created around the victim’s home, workplace, and the kid’s school.
“If that ankle bracelet entered that area, police were instantly notified, car dispatched to pick him up, and a car dispatched to check on her safety. Safety was always paramount,” Wheeliker said on Global News at Noon.
READ MORE: Last year, 137 women were killed by someone they knew — each day
The alarm on the monitoring devices could only be shut off at an RCMP detachment.
Survivors have said restraining orders don’t have much power in some cases. For women who once found themselves looking over their shoulders, the program brought relief, Wheeliker said.
“The women that participated said for the first time ever, he wasn’t driving up the street five, seven, 10 times a day; parking in the back alley watching everything she was doing; or, you know, standing across the street trying to talk to her. So in terms of holding men accountable for ‘no contact’ orders, it worked,” Wheeliker said.
The pilot project came in under former premier Alison Redford, and it’s unclear why it was never renewed. Wheeliker suspects it came down to cost.
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“If there’s political will to get around it, we can get around it,” Wheeliker said. The program reduced police resources while keeping domestic abuse survivors safe, he added.
Global News reached out to the Alberta government to find out if it would consider bringing the program back, but the province was non-committal.
“Recognizing this type of technology is improving, we would be open to exploring new options in future as they become available,” press secretary Kate Toogood said in a statement.
Global News has asked for further clarification.
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Understanding domestic violence
Wheeliker said domestic violence can be generational, and many abusers learn the behaviour from their parents.
“It’s taught to them as children. When we look at the jealously, possessiveness, and the escalation of violence — little boys and girls that grow up in homes where there’s power and control and abuse, their well-being depends on the abuser. On someone outside of them.”
Wheeliker said when those children grow up, they make their mates responsible for their happiness.
The men behind Alberta’s high rates of domestic violence are thin-skinned and they link their sense of well-being to their female partners, Wheeliker said.
READ MORE: 76% of Canada’s domestic homicide victims are female
“Think of the thinnest piece of glass as your self-worth or your well-being. If somebody tings it, if somebody rejects you a little bit, hurts you a little bit — it just shatters,” he explained.
And that, he said, is when abusive men become extremely desperate and the potential for extreme violence — homicide and suicide — escalates rapidly.
“You’ve heard, you know, ‘If I can’t get her back, no one’s going to have her.’ The man becomes desperate to get her back, because she actually represents his sense of well-being.”
This explains why abusers can be so focused on getting the woman back, leading to stalking and breaching “no contact” orders, Wheeliker said.
“They’re desperate to get her back and if they can’t — the danger and risk goes through the roof.”
New data from the ACWS shows women in Alberta are facing an increasing risk of being murdered by an intimate partner and that crisis calls are up 10 per cent in two years.
READ MORE: Crisis calls to Alberta women’s shelters up 10% in 2 years
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