Status of Women committee  Absolutely, and it needs to be developed by experts outside the judiciary.

Status of Women committee  I do. I believe that in terms of judges in the criminal court and judges in the family court. We've heard a little bit about Keira Kagan's story today. I think that the death of Keira is an example of what happens when the judge doesn't understand well enough the realities of violence against an intimate partner and who thinks, “Yes, sure, there was domestic violence, but that's got nothing to do with what I'm here to decide about today in terms of who the child is going to spend her time with.”

Status of Women committee  Rural areas are huge and police stations are often far from where a victim is. There needs to be time, and an electronic bracelet isn't going to provide that kind of protection.

Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  Because often we don't know what we don't know. If you get to the position of being a judge.... It's even true for lawyers. I'm a lawyer, and I'll say it about our profession. We tend to think we already know everything we need to know. If I don't know about something, someone else needs to tell me that I don't know that and help me know what it is I need to learn.

Status of Women committee  The only thing I would add to what has been said this afternoon, not just by me but also by others, is that intimate partner violence looks so different from one situation to the other. We've talked a lot about coercive control, and that's important, because it is very under-recognized and often invisible to an outsider.

Status of Women committee  I think with respect to ankle bracelets the most important thing here is that Quebec already has this under way as a new practice. Let's all see how it plays out there. Let's build on the research that we've already heard about today that's being done at the University of Montreal and see if this is something that's workable in a province that has a significant rural community and population and a very diverse population.

Status of Women committee  A hundred per cent.

Status of Women committee  The only comment I'll make about that, and it's a fairly general one, is that in 2021, when Bill C-78 was passed, it introduced these massive amendments to the Divorce Act, which a number of us have mentioned this afternoon. It resulted in some inconsistencies between provincial and federal family law.

Status of Women committee  Certainly. I'm happy to do that. Thank you for the question. I'm going to build on what Cee Strauss already said rather than repeat her excellent comments. It's critical that this education be developed outside of the judicial world, both for the reasons you mentioned, but also to ensure that real expertise is brought to the question of what the content should be.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. I can't say enough about that, especially in the small amount of time we have, but you're absolutely right. Removing the physical danger is step one. Tied with that has to be access to supports, including supports like shelters for women and children, so that work can begin to address the trauma, which often can last for years and years, leaving that woman vulnerable to ongoing abuse by the partner even long after she's left the relationship.

Status of Women committee  Ultimately, the judge has the discretion whether the request.... Sorry, let me put that the other way around. Even where an attorney, and presumably that would be the Crown attorney, fails to make the request, under present legislation judges have a wide array of options available to them in terms of what happens to this accused person during the remand period.

Status of Women committee  Certainly, it will. My concerns are really practical in terms of the implementation of electronic monitoring. I just came home a couple of days ago from spending a week in Renfrew County. Next month an inquest is beginning in Renfrew County into the triple femicide that took place there in 2015, which I'm sure many of you remember very well.

Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. I'm going to answer the second part of it first, if I might. I think that what judges need to know is somewhat different from what lawyers need to know. The training work I did with Legal Aid Ontario was aimed not just at lawyers but at all of their staff, and in addition to understanding what intimate partner violence is, it was very much focused on coercive control and how to identify it.