Wellness Within Calls for Removal of Minister Brad Johns Following Comments Dismissing Gender-Based Violence
Wellness Within is completely appalled by the ignorant and dangerous comments made by Minister Johns on the 4th anniversary of the Portapique massacre and we are calling for his immediate resignation/removal. Through multiple questions, Minister Johns affirmed that he did not see gender-based, intimate partner violence as an epidemic.
Minister Johns’ inability to utter the word “epidemic” or know its definition, and statement that he himself views “guns”, “drugs”, and “violence in general” as larger problems is an inexcusable erasure of the lived experiences of women.
Organizations that support those who have experienced gender-based violence know that this is an everyday occurrence. For those who experience this violence – it impacts their lives every single day.
Wellness Within recognizes the provincial government’s quick correction on this issue, but statements and apologies are not enough to reconcile the dangerous ideology displayed by the Minister of Justice. Removal of Brad Johns from this position is required to demonstrate the government’s commitment to supporting victims of domestic violence and addressing the issue in society.
We stand in solidarity with all those who experience intimate partner violence, and all the lives lost during the mass shooting in 2020. We urge the Houston government to take seriously the recommendations made by the Mass Casualty Commission.
Wellness Within is a volunteer-based registered non-profit organization that serves women, transgender, and nonbinary people who have experienced criminalization and are pregnant or have young children in Nova Scotia, part of the unceded and unsurrendered ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaq people.
Wellness Within supports people through the full spectrum of reproductive health experience; facilitates workshops and education sessions; develops resource materials; and advocates for reproductive justice issues.
Contact: Natasha Hines, Chair, (902)717-2956 or natasha_hines@outlook.com, and Dr. Martha Paynter, Director of Research, 902-292-7082 or martha.paynter@gmail.com