Drs. Myrna Dawson and Peter Jaffe have received funding from the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) to support the design and launch of the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Website. Both members of the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario, Dawson and Jaffe have spearheaded a number of events in the past several years that have brought together provincial and territorial representatives from various sectors to discuss the challenges and best practices of these death review initiatives. The goal of the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative (CDHPI) is to develop interdisciplinary partnerships across Canada that will foster collaborative knowledge exchange to identify best practices and inform policy in order to reduce fatalities resulting from intimate partner/domestic violence. The CDHPI will share best practices regarding risk assessment, risk management and safety planning and focus on the needs of some high-risk groups. The website will feature research reports, educational messages and key findings developed through research, annual reports from DVDRCs across Canada and internationally; links to other websites associated with domestic violence and homicide prevention; newsletters; and prevention and research studies identifying risk factors and best practices associated with domestic homicide prevention. The website will be an information depository for plain language reports identifying core competencies, best practices, and key messages for targeted audiences such as health care, social workers, and justice. The website will be interactive, incorporating social media for public dissemination.
