A private member’s bill unanimously passed in the House of Commons criminalizing coercive or controlling behaviour against women.
Bill C-332, tabled by New Democrat MP Laurel Collins, allows women in abusive relationships to have more protective rights from violent partners. It is now awaiting second reading in the Senate. The bill strives to amend the Criminal Code and criminalize behaviour that impacts the person’s mental and/or physical health, places them in violent situations, and negatively affects their day-to-day habits.
According to a 2022 report by the Canadian government, 44 per cent, or 6.2 million women aged 15 and older have reported a type of abuse in their intimate partner relationship.
Bill C-332 moved through the House about a year after the April 2023 passing of Bill C-233, known as Keira’s Law, which amended the Judges Act enforcing intimate partner violence (IPV) and coercive control education for judges.
Keira Kagan was a vibrant and joyful four-year-old, who loved her life, and her father, Robin Brown, despite his abusive behaviour, said a close relative of Kagan who did not want their name revealed as an inquest is pending.
“Keira was a beautiful little girl who had her whole life ahead of her,” the relative told Humber News.
Keira Kagan is shown in this undated family handout photo. The four-year-old girl was found dead next to her father's body at the base of a cliff in Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area in Milton, Ont., in February 2020. Now the girl's name will be enshrined in federal and provincial laws designed to help other children avoid her fatal fate. Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Philip Viater
Keira was found dead in February 2020 at Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area in Milton, Ont., alongside Brown following pleas for supervised visitations by her mother, Jennifer Kagan-Viater, said the family member.
The family member said despite Kagan-Viater doing all that she could to ensure her daughter’s safety, the judge did not see abuse towards her as cause to withhold unsupervised visitations.
“Even though this man had an abusive past and it was noted that he was abusive [to Kagan-Viater], the judge said that abuse towards the mother cannot be taken into account towards the child,” the family member said.
Children who witness IPV are often used as “pawns” by the perpetrator as a way to continue the cycle of abuse following a separation from the partner, a Canadian government report states.
This was the case for Keira, the family member said.
“When they can’t go after you, they go after your children,” the relative said.
While abusers will likely continue regardless of potential criminal charges, Bills C-332 and C-223 ensure that victims of abuse have more protection and law enforcement and judges are educated on matters surrounding IPV.
Leah Gazan, an NDP party member from Winnipeg, said on Wednesday that the rise in gender-based violence is an epidemic.
“We have a crisis of gender-based violence in this country,” Gazan said. “Many municipalities are now calling it an epidemic. We know that rates of gender-based violence are not decreasing. They’ve actually increased since the pandemic.”
It appears to be true with a girl or woman dying every three days, to 157 victims in 2020 from 118 in 2019, according to a report by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability.
As concerns rise, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said about 95 per cent of IPV cases involve coercion or control before physical abuse takes place.
Although both bills will not deter perpetrators from abusing spouses, or children, it is a step to ensure the safety of victims, decreasing the rate of abuse against women and children, the family member of Keira Kagan said.
“Bills like Keira’s Law and this new one are important because they make it so that gaslighting, manipulation, coercion, being aggressive, and all the stuff that comes with abusive relationships can be criminalized,” the family member said.
“I don’t think that you can avoid abuse,” the relative said. “There’s nothing you can do to stop someone who wants to harm you, but having laws in place can maybe help.”