Item - 2026.HL30.5

The Board of Health:

1. Requested the Ontario Ministry of Health and Ontario Health to establish and implement a province-wide, trauma-informed standard for improving the accuracy and consistency of collecting Intimate Partner Violence data in hospital settings within the existing mandatory emergency department reporting system (NACRS).

2. Requested Statistics Canada conduct ongoing population prevalence surveys of intimate partner violence to support local public health agencies to assess local trends and the impact of interventions.

This report responds to direction from the Board of Health to review the feasibility of adding an Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) indicator to the Population Health Status Indicators (PHSI) dashboard.

Intimate Partner Violence is a significant societal issue that has direct and ongoing impacts on victims, survivors, and families, and on overall community safety in Toronto. Intimate Partner Violence data that is accessible and publicly shared to understand its impacts can inform prevention efforts and support evidence-based decision making.

Toronto Public Health (TPH) reports on a series of Population Health Status Indicators to support its mission to reduce health inequities, improve population health and to meet the requirements of the Ontario Public Health Standards. Population Health Status Indicators summarize data used to measure health outcomes and behaviours at a population level.

In fall 2025, the Toronto Police Service released an interactive and publicly accessible dashboard with Intimate Partner Violence and family violence data. The Toronto Police Service's Intimate Partner and Family Violence dashboard visualizes trends and distributions across time and geography.

Canada-wide research indicates that the majority of people who had experienced Intimate Partner Violence did not report it to the police[1], which means that police-reported data underestimate the true prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence. Toronto Public Health reviewed other possible data sets and found the data limited and unsuitable for the Population Health Status Indicators dashboard. The newly launched Toronto Police Service dashboard provides the best available Toronto-specific Intimate Partner Violence data available at this time.

The Population Health Status Indicators dashboard is not intended to replicate data already available through other City of Toronto resources. To support immediate and seamless access to the Toronto Police Service dashboard, the Population Health Status Indicators dashboard’s injury section includes a reference and direct link to the Toronto Police Service's Intimate Partner and Family Violence dashboard.

[1] Conroy, S. 2021. Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile, 2019. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.