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Police offices in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam shine purple for IPV

Coquitlam RCMP will take part in their first annual "Purple Light Nights" to build awareness and honour people who have lost their lives to intimate partner violence.
Janis Cleugh
Janis Cleugh
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The Coquitlam RCMP's first annual Purple Light Nights starts on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, to build awareness about intimate partner violence (IPV).Coquitlam RCMP

Police offices in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam will beam purple for 16 days starting Saturday, Nov. 25, to shine a light on intimate partner violence (IPV).

Mounties in the two cities, as well as in the villages of Anmore and Belcarra, will take part in the first annual "Purple Light Nights" to build awareness and honour people who have lost their lives to IPV, as well as support survivors harmed by current or past partners.

RCMP respond to about 42 IPV calls per month in the four municipalities.

The detachment's inaugural campaign coincides with the 16 days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, an international outreach that starts on Nov. 25 — the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; the day was chosen to commemorate the lives of the Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic who were assassinated in 1960.

The purple light campaign also includes the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women — a recognition of the female students murdered at the Polytechnique Montréal on Dec. 6, 1989 — and ends on Dec. 10, Human Rights Day.

To date, six provinces in Canada and three territories have enacted legislation on family violence; B.C. is not among them.

IPV takes place in public and private places, and online, and can include:

  • physical abuse
  • criminal harassment/stalking
  • sexual violence
  • emotional/psychological abuse
  • financial abuse
  • spiritual abuse
  • reproductive coercion
  • cyber violence

Most of the victims are women. Between 2014 and 2019, there were nearly 500 IPV homicides of which 80 per cent were women and, of that number, 21 per cent were Indigenous women.

During the COVID year of 2020, 53 women — of which 11 identified as Indigenous — were killed by their partner in Canada, according to federal government statistics.

Help is here

Coquitlam RCMP notes the following local services for IPV victims:

Victim Services

  • Coquitlam RCMP’s Victim Services unit provides emotional support, practical help, safety planning, court support and referral to other agencies. Victim Services is a free and confidential service that provides police-initiated crisis intervention support and referrals to victims of crime and trauma.

Tri-City Transitions

  • Tri-City Transitions Society offers support for all individuals who have experienced intimate partner violence while offering women and children a safe and secure place to stay while they rebuild their lives.

Vancouver & Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society (VLMFSS)

  • VLMFSS offers free and confidential culturally responsive services with immigrant, refugee, visible minorities, without immigration status women and their families who are victims / survivors of Intimate Partner/Familial Violence, child abuse and sexual violence. We provide emotional supportive services in over 20 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Cantonese, Dari, English, Farsi, Fijian, Hindi, Ilokano, Korean, Mandarin, Pashto, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Telugu and more.

VictimLinkBC

  • VictimLink BC is a toll-free, confidential and multilingual services available across B.C. and the Yukon. VictimLinkBC provides immediate crisis support, information and referral services to call victims of crime.