New fund created to address root causes of intimate partner violence

The Elizabeth Fry Society is collaborating with the family of a woman killed by her partner in November to create a fund in her memory.

Logan Alexandra Russell, 32, of North Sydney was allegedly killed in Groves Point by her male partner, making her the eighth person killed in Nova Scotia through intimate partner violence since it was declared an epidemic by the province in September 2024.

Sluaghan MacDonald, of Sydney Mines, faces a second-degree murder charge in the case.

The Elizabeth Fry Society is a non-profit organization that supports women and gender diverse people in seeking justice and breaking cycles that lead to criminalization.

The society’s development team lead, Robin Cummings, says that Russell’s being the eighth person to be killed by her partner since September 2024, “shows that prevention is not actually happening.”

The province has increased funding for transition houses and women’s centres by over $7.7 million. They also provided over $5.1 million to community-based organizations for projects that prevent and address gender-based violence in communities through the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence. 

Nicole MacDonald is the communications officer for the Nova Scotia advisory council on the status of women. 

“A lot of great work is underway, but we know there is so much more to do,” said MacDonald in an emailed statement. 

Cummings says the government funding is a step in the right direction, but the province should be investing in programming to prevent intimate partner violence.

“They responded by supporting organizations who are helping people who are already experiencing this violence, which is very essential,” said Cummings. “But they haven’t responded in the same way to support programming that engages in prevention.”

The Logan Alexandra Russell fund will focus on the root causes of intimate partner violence. Since the fund is donor dependent, the programming will vary based on how much money they raise. So far they have planned three educational panels through this funding. The first is on March 6 at Dalhousie’s Weldon Law building, which will discuss signs of abuse and creating safe spaces.

The second panel will focus on supporting loved ones of victims and supporting them in navigating the legal system. The third panel will focus on addressing root causes of violence. 

Cummings hopes they eventually will be able to fund men’s and boys groups to address this violence before it happens. In order to do so, she says the Elizabeth Fry Society would need long-term core funding from the province.

When Cummings started working with the organization three years ago, there were around 30 employees and 200 ongoing clients. Today they have nearly 600 ongoing clients and 70 staff to meet the need. 

As the demand for their services grows, Cummings says she and her colleagues are feeling a variety of emotions. 

“Having to continuously advocate for the work that we do in our clients, the community we serve to the government over and over again and not receive the response that we need is very very frustrating, especially when we see eight women being killed by their partners in a year,” said Cummings.

Despite these challenges, Cummings says she is eager to advocate for change. 

“We’re still fueled,” she said. “We still are motivated to keep working, to keep advocating, to keep fighting for our clients and educating on prevention.”