The chart depicting the rate of domestic violence in Canada from 2009 to 2022 is shaped like a very gentle U. Its lowest point? Somewhere around 2014 to 2016. It’s a problem that’s proven difficult to talk about in Ottawa.

An attempt was made on the last day of July, when the House of Commons Status of Women committee chair, Shelby Kramp-Neuman, convened a meeting on the issue — only for it to end in a meltdown. Kramp-Neuman, a Conservative, had called three witnesses to speak on the matter of violence against women, only to be shut down by Liberal and NDP committee members angered by the ethnic and gender composition of those present, and insisted on discussing abortion instead.