Ottawa police call woman’s death a ‘femicide’ in 1st for department
The case is being considered a “femicide” — a term generally defined as the killing of a woman or girl based on their gender — as it “occurred in the context of intimate partner violence,” police said.
The Ottawa Police Service is currently investigating the death of a longtime Royal Canadian Navy employee in what the police have classified as a "femicide"—the first instance of the term being used by the force.
The victim has been identified by police as 47-year-old Jennifer Zabarylo from Ottawa.
In a statement provided to Global News, the Department of National Defence confirmed that the victim, referred to as Jennifer Edmonds-Zabarylo by a spokesperson, was a civilian employee and a "longtime member of the Royal Canadian Navy headquarters team."
"We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of her tragic death, and we are offering support to her family and colleagues," the department stated.
According to a LinkedIn profile, Zabarylo had worked as a business planner and comptroller for the navy since 2018.
Police have charged 55-year-old Michael Zabarylo with second-degree murder, and he appeared in court on Monday.
The police have classified the case as a "femicide"—a term generally understood as the killing of a woman or girl due to their gender—because it "occurred in the context of intimate partner violence," according to the police. The specific nature of the relationship between the victim and the accused has not been disclosed.
A spokesperson for the Ottawa Police Service told Global News that this case marks the first time the force has used the term "femicide" in a homicide investigation. The decision to use the term is influenced by ongoing collaboration with violence against women advocates who work closely with the police.
In 2022, while announcing the renaming of its partner assault unit to the intimate partner violence unit, then-interim police chief Steve Bell stated that the force would begin incorporating "the use of terms like femicide" in discussions about violence against women.
"We have learned that language matters, particularly when it comes to education and support," Bell said in a statement.
No additional details about the circumstances surrounding Jennifer Zabarylo’s death have been provided, as the case is now before the courts.
While "femicide" is a relatively new term used to describe gender-based killings, it is not legally defined in Canada’s Criminal Code. Advocates for the reduction of gender-based and intimate partner violence have urged the government to include a definition in the Criminal Code.
Several Latin American countries, including Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, have enacted femicide laws in recent years. Mexico, which has one of the highest rates of female homicides globally, began recording femicides in 2012 and has taken measures to reduce these killings.
In Canada, there is limited data on gender as a motivating factor in homicides, although the number of female homicide victims has been increasing. Statistics Canada’s latest annual report on police-reported crime, released last month, indicated that the number of female homicide victims last year—205 women killed—was nearly unchanged from 2022, despite a 14 percent drop in overall homicide victims during the same period.
Homicides with female victims have risen by 31 percent since 2019, compared to a 12 percent increase for all other genders.
The federal government and Statistics Canada are currently conducting a three-year data collection project called the Femicide Information System, aimed at "better understanding gender-related homicides and improving decision- and policy-making in this area," according to a spokesperson for Women and Gender Equality Canada. This project, which will conclude in 2025, seeks to develop a comprehensive national overview of gender-related homicides in Canada.
A 2023 Statistics Canada report on gender-related killings was limited to data on solved homicides involving women or girls killed by a male accused of intimate partner violence, where sexual violence was involved, or where a known sex worker was killed.
Using these criteria, the agency found that while gender-related killings had generally declined since 2001, there was a 14 percent increase between 2020 and 2021, marking the highest rate since 2017.
The United Nations has highlighted gender-based violence and femicide as issues requiring global action, warning in a report last year that while overall homicides are declining worldwide, the number of female homicides is not.
