On October 23rd, 2023 Bob Hallaert, a man with a history of intimate partner violence, shot and killed Angie Sweeney days after she broke up with him. They’d been together for about three years. 

What happened that day didn’t just shatter the Sweeney family, it shattered Sault Ste Marie. And many believe what happened to Angie could have been stopped. 

Intimate Partner Violence is at a record high in Canada. On average, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every six days in this country. After a man killed three women in Renfrew County, Ontario in 2015, a month-long inquest made 86 recommendations to end intimate partner violence. 

The recommendations spanned everything from ways to improve the justice system, the criminal code, early interventions for victims and perpetrators, more and better resources for those in danger, and better police and public education.

The first recommendation was to declare IPV an epidemic, which so far the Ontario and Federal governments have refused to do. 

On this week's Storylines, journalist Katie Nicholson heads to Sault Ste Marie where Angie’s friends, family, and community have come together to grieve, but also to act.    

Reported by Katie Nicholson. Produced by Acey Rowe. Story editing by Julia Pagel and Liz Hoath. 

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit