Stopping domestic abuse is a priority in Quebec: Legault

Stopping domestic abuse a priority: Legault Quebec Premier Francois Legault said he’s making the domestic abuse file a priority after the CAQ was criticized for not doing enough.

Quebec City — With cries getting louder for the Quebec government to fight violence against women, Premier Francois Legault says he's making the domestic abuse file a priority.

The promise came on the heels of another tragic event allegedly involving domestic abuse on Thursday, when the bodies of 43-year-old Kataluk Paningayak-Naluiyuk and 44-year-old Peter Ainalikwere found in Ivujivik, a community 2,000 kilometres north of Montreal.

Police are investigating whether it was a murder-suicide.

The woman’s sister told La Presse Paningayak-Naluiyuk was a mother of six, with a big heart, who needed help. She said she was in an abusive relationship, where she was allegedly injured several times. Once, she said, her ribs were broken.

If police determine her death to be a case of domestic violence, she would be the eighth woman killed in 8 weeks in Quebec.

In response to calls for action on violence against women in the province, Legault said in recent days that he will personally take on the conjugal violence file.

“I will handle the file myself,” said the premier in an interview with the French language news outlet Noovo.

“I guarantee there will not be a funding problem.”

When the government presented its budget last week, it announced $4.5 million more per year to be divided by the more than 100 shelters in the province.

Members of the Parti Quebecois (PQ) were quick to say they’ll believe it when they see it.

“Less [talk],” said PQ member Veronique Hivon. “[We] need planning, we need action.”