Statement from MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, Shadow Attorney General
Remembering the Triple Femicide of Renfrew County Ten Years Later
Today, September 22, marks 10 years since the tragic and preventable deaths of Nathalie Warmerdam, Anastasia Kuzyk and Carol Culleton in Renfrew County in 2015. All three women were killed by a man they each had had previous relationships with, making the mass killing an act of intimate partner violence (IPV). This triple femicide shook their rural community and launched calls for urgent change to protect Ontarians from IPV.
In June 2022, the in-depth coroner’s jury inquest into these acts of IPV delivered 86 recommendations to the provincial and federal governments. Sixty-eight of the recommendations were directed at the Ford government. These recommendations are rooted in the testimonies of survivors and experts who know that IPV is a public health crisis that costs lives and tears apart communities.
Seeing the lack of government action and accountability, in March 2024, the Official Opposition NDP tabled Bill 173 to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. This was the very first recommendation of the Renfrew inquest. Instead of quickly adopting the bill, the Ford government referred Bill 173 to a standing committee. The government could have easily taken action, but instead chose to initiate yet another study into intimate partner violence. The bill and study were effectively terminated in January 2025 when Doug Ford called an unexpected winter election 18 months ahead of schedule.
After the election, in June 2025, the NDP reintroduced legislation to declare IPV an epidemic. Now known as Bill 55, the legislation would declare IPV an epidemic and require the Attorney General of Ontario to establish a Renfrew County Implementation Committee to consider and implement the recommendations. Instead of taking action, Ford immediately recessed the legislature for a five-month “summer” break.
Ford’s inaction is costing the lives of women, especially Indigenous, Black, and racialized women, 2-Spirit people, gender-diverse Ontarians, and survivors. The increasing trends in OAITH data report that Ontario is seeing 50 to 60 femicides annually. Every day of inaction puts more lives in danger.
Yet Ford's funding for women’s shelters, housing, victim services, and counselling remains inadequate. Law enforcement, risk assessment protocols, and the justice system remain fragmented. Survivors are left scrambling in an underfunded and overstretched system, which too often is cruelly indifferent.
The memories of Nathalie, Anastasia, and Carol demand action: not just acknowledgment.
As Malcolm Warmerdam says, “Ten years later, the conditions that led to the deaths of Carol, Anastasia, and my mother, Nathalie, have not meaningfully changed. Even if Doug Ford has forgotten, I cannot forget. As the first step in implementing the inquest recommendations, Doug Ford must declare IPV an epidemic today. Every week without action is another femicide in Ontario.”