As police investigate the murder of a 71-year-old Nova Scotia woman by her male partner, the head of an Ontario research group on violence against women says the situation is all too familiar.

Homicides involving older couples are among the fastest-rising rates of intimate partner murders in Canada, said Katreena Scott, who directs the Center for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children at the Western University in London, Ontario.

“It makes me even more determined to do something about this,” Scott said in an interview Wednesday. “People don’t think about what’s happening (to the elderly). It’s possible, and it is.”

RCMP say officers found the bodies of a 71-year-old woman and 72-year-old man in a residence in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, which is located across from the harbor in downtown Halifax. A police investigation determined that the man killed the woman and died from self-inflicted injuries, Mounties said in a statement Tuesday.

“The investigation shows that this was an incident of domestic violence,” the statement said.

Unique risks for older people

He did not provide the name of the man or woman who died. An RCMP spokesperson said the names were not released for privacy reasons.

Police-reported domestic violence among people aged 65 and over increased by 45 per cent between 2014 and 2022, according to Statistics Canada. In 2022, around 34 out of 100,000 older women and 23 out of 100,000 older men reported being victims of domestic violence, the figures show.

Older adults face several unique risks from such violence, Scott said. For example, retirement is a major change for some people that can add stress and uncertainty to their lives. Additionally, retirees may lose access to workplace resources that can help protect them from family violence.

The strain due to declining health can be a “tipping point” that either triggers abuse or exacerbates violence already underway, she added.

Older people are at high risk of becoming socially isolated, and “violence thrives in isolation,” she said.

“We need to integrate our health services, as well as our dementia and aged care services, and think about how we, as a community, connect with and support older people,” he said. Scott said.

Warning signs

Regardless of the age of the victim, clear warning signs often precede intimate partner murders. These signs include a history of violence in the relationship, or a spike in the abuser’s paranoia, obsession, or depression.

Scott pointed to the report from a public inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, in which the perpetrator killed 22 people after abusing his common-law wife. One of the report’s key recommendations, Scott said, is that people learn to recognize and respond to risk factors and warning signs of domestic violence.

At a campaign stop in Halifax on Wednesday, Claudia Chender, leader of the provincial NDP, said Cole Harbour’s murder was further proof that domestic violence is an epidemic in Nova Scotia.

“We need to provide epidemic-level funding to frontline organizations working with women in communities to ensure this doesn’t happen,” she told reporters in Halifax. “If (current) funding was sufficient, we would see progress.”

RCMP in Nova Scotia said they were investigating the deaths in conjunction with the province’s medical examiner service.

The Canadian Feminicide Observatory said that as of October 31, at least 155 women and girls had been killed so far this year in Canada and that in 95 per cent of those deaths, a man was accused of the murder.

For anyone affected by domestic or domestic violence, support is available through crisis lines and local support services. ​​If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.

If you or someone you know is struggling, here’s where to get help: