Northern Ont. resident faces 47 criminal charges, accused of harassing former partner

A 63-year-old northern Ontario man who is currently on probation and accused of harassing his former partner is facing dozens of new charges, police say.

Officers with the James Bay detachment searched a home on Riverside Drive in Kapuskasing shortly after 3 p.m. Feb. 17, Ontario Provincial Police said in a news release Wednesday morning.

As a result of an investigation that spanned October 2023 to February 2024, he was charged with 17 counts of harassing communication and 30 counts of failing to comply with a probation order.

Const. Kyler Brouwer told CTV News in a phone interview the alleged harassment was done through email and was split between two investigations.

Brouwer said nearly each harassment charged attracted two breach of probation charges due to stipulations of keeping the peace and being of good behaviour and a non-contact order.

He could not confirm what the accused was previously convicted of.

"Due to the domestic nature of the incident, the name of the accused will not be released to protect the identity of the victim," OPP said.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes more than just physical and sexual violence.

The Centres of Disease Control and Prevention also includes stalking and psychological aggression as IPV as well.

"Psychological aggression is the use of verbal and nonverbal communication with the intent to harm another person mentally or emotionally and/or to exert control over another person," the CDC said.

"Coercive control and intimidation by the abusive partner is considered an underlying component of all of these types of violence. The abusive partner’s ability to control relies on the abused person’s belief that if she or he does not comply with the abusive partner’s demands, the victim, the victim’s children, or other persons or things the victim cares about will be harmed. Often, threats are alternated with acts of kindness from the perpetrator, making it difficult for the victim to break free of the cycle of violence."

Support for survivors

People in abusive relationships are not alone and support is available across the country.

In Canada, 44 per cent of women ages 15 and older have reported some kind of psychological, physical or sexual abuse during an intimate partner relationship, the Government of Canada said in an IPV fact sheet in 2022.

• Call 911 if you or someone you know is in immediate danger or needs urgent medical care
• Timmins and District Victim Services crisis line 1-877-264-4208
• Assaulted women's helplife 1-866-863-0511
• Find more family violence services here
• Why people stay in abusive relationships and how to help them