'I Wish I Could Hear Her One More Time': Son Remembers Barrhaven Femicide Victim
Ottawa is grieving after a Barrhaven woman was killed in what police have classified as a femicide, leaving behind a family shattered by loss — and a community determined not to let her memory fade.
Her eldest son is now speaking publicly, sharing memories of a woman who was, by every account, the heart of her home and a second mother to anyone who walked through her door.
'Every One of My Friends Called Her Mom'
"You felt her love the moment you saw her," her son said. "Every one of my friends called her 'mom.'"
Those words paint a picture of a woman whose warmth extended far beyond her own family — someone who opened her arms to her children's friends, who made people feel seen and cared for without effort or pretense.
"I wish so bad that I could hear her one more time," he added.
It is the kind of grief that sits in the quiet moments — the unanswered phone calls, the holidays that will never feel quite whole again, the ordinary Tuesday afternoons that used to mean something.
A Life Cut Short in Barrhaven
Barrhaven, a tight-knit suburban community in Ottawa's south end, is no stranger to the bonds of neighbourhood life. It is the kind of place where people know each other's names, where kids grow up together and parents watch out for one another.
The loss of a woman described so universally as a nurturing, loving presence leaves a gap that cannot easily be filled — not just in her family, but in the wider social fabric she was part of.
Femicide — the killing of a woman because of her gender, most often by an intimate partner — remains a devastating and persistent reality in Canada. According to the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, on average, a woman or girl is killed in Canada every 2.5 days.
Ottawa's Ongoing Reckoning With Gender-Based Violence
This case adds to a sobering pattern Ottawa has faced in recent years. Advocates and community organizations in the city have long called for greater resources for women fleeing dangerous situations — more shelter spaces, faster legal interventions, and stronger community education around the warning signs of intimate partner violence.
Local organizations like the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women (OCTEVAW) continue to push for systemic change, even as individual families bear the unbearable weight of loss.
For the son who shared his grief publicly, speaking out may be part of processing the unimaginable — but it is also an act of preservation. To say her name. To insist that she was loved, that she mattered, that her absence is felt every single day.
Remembering Her
She was a mom — not just to her own children, but to a whole circle of young people who found in her home something safe and warm.
Ottawa holds space for that grief. And it holds a responsibility, too: to listen to families like hers, to fund the supports that protect women, and to take gender-based violence seriously before another family is left with nothing but memories and an unbearable wish to hear a voice one more time.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the Ottawa-based Assaulted Women's Helpline at 1-866-863-0511, or the local Interval House crisis line at 613-234-5181.
Source: Ottawa Citizen
