It’s been 19 years since Paula Gallant — a brand new mom, loving sister and elementary faculty trainer — was murdered by her husband.
Her sisters have by no means let her identify be forgotten, and as deadly situations of intimate partner violence proceed to rise in Nova Scotia, the household is reflecting on their private combat for change.
“If it will possibly occur to her, it will possibly occur to any lady, and that message must be repeated over and over,” mentioned Lynn Gallant-Blackburn, Paula’s sister.
Since October 2024, five women have been killed within the province by a male companion. In a single case on New Year’s Eve in Halifax, the girl’s father was killed as properly. All 5 incidents had been murder-suicides.
These homicides, which have shattered households and left communities reeling, come mere months after the legislature adopted a invoice in September declaring domestic violence an epidemic.
Paula Gallant was 36 when she was killed on Dec. 27, 2005. Her husband was later sentenced to life in jail for second-degree homicide in her loss of life.
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Gallant was killed in December 2005. It took greater than 4 years for her husband, Jason MacRae, to confess to the crime.
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He was sentenced to life in jail for second-degree homicide in March 2011. In keeping with an agreed assertion of details, Gallant had been strangled after a combat over MacRae’s playing debt.
“It took virtually 4 and a half years to get a conviction. Since that point, I’ve continued to not solely advocate for Paula, however to advocate for all ladies and women residing with males’s violence,” mentioned Gallant-Blackburn.
“I by no means needed Paula to be remembered as the college trainer that was left within the trunk of her automobile, and we labored actually arduous since that point to let individuals know she was a lot greater than that small occasion that took her life.”
Nonetheless, practically 20 years later, Gallant-Blackburn says the epidemic of gender-based violence has solely grown.
“I don’t know why Nova Scotia continues to have the worst charges within the nation, but it surely’s not one thing I’m happy with,” she mentioned.
“I believe our premier, our minister of justice, our minister of schooling, our minister of well being, have to type a roundtable with specialists within the discipline of males’s violence towards ladies.”
She too is becoming a member of the refrain of voices calling for an motion plan and dedication to funding for assets.
In an open letter despatched this week, greater than a dozen gender-based violence teams known as on Premier Tim Houston and two ministers to take pressing motion.
“We aren’t seeing any tangible commitments to epidemic-level funding — huge will increase in funding,” mentioned advocate Liz LeClair, who signed the letter.
“Transition homes, sexual assault centres, authorized companies, sufferer companies on this province want a large overhaul.”
Legal professional Basic and Justice Minister Becky Druhan has dedicated to the assembly.
‘It rocks my soul’
For Gallant’s household, every incident of intimate companion violence brings again horrible reminiscences of the trauma as a result of they know all too properly the ache it leaves behind.
“It rocks my soul as a result of I do know what their family members are feeling,” mentioned Gallant-Blackburn.
To maintain her sister’s legacy alive, Gallant-Blackburn printed a e book final November to share her story and hopefully assist others.
She hopes the opposite households affected by intimate companion violence will discover the identical power.
“Inform the one you love’s story, don’t allow them to be forgotten. Don’t allow them to change into a statistic.”
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