Status of Women committee  A therapy centre is certainly better than prison. In prison, abusers are there with other violent men. They collude with one another. The whole time they are there, their brain is working overtime, thinking about where we are, the people we're with and what we're doing. When they get out, they are even more violent If instead of sending abusers to prison, they were first sent to a centre for three months of intensive therapy, their anger would decrease.

Status of Women committee  Let's talk about mental health. I'm an expert, as a caseworker. When I go to the courthouse, the judge listens to me and takes note of what I've said. On the other hand when the abused woman speaks, the judge doesn't listen and doesn't hear. It's one-on-one. We caseworkers are the ones who go to court to explain the work we've done with the victim.

Status of Women committee  Every time we report them, we're asked what evidence we have. We never have evidence even if we call them 10 times to report what's happening to us. The one thing we really want is the bracelet. We know that people won't always listen to us. We know that nothing can be perfect.

Status of Women committee  Women don't report their abusers. I can tell you that because I'm with them on the ground, working with them in their homes. I'm not at a shelter. Everyone knows that abusers are arrested and then released. You can see it on television and hear it on radio. So women are afraid to report their abuser and don't want to do so because once he is released, he will automatically return home.

Status of Women committee  The group of 100 women, and everyone we work with, are simply waiting for you to pass the bill. That's all they want. The group still exists and is wondering whether there is any progress and where things stand right now. If you approve this bill, you will be giving them hope for freedom, being able to live their lives and feel free.

Status of Women committee  I too would like to talk about therapy. As I said earlier, I work with violent men that we have been able to help. People have to know the difference between a narcissistic pervert and a violent man. Violent men have often experienced violence; they have no resources and don't know how to manage the violence.

Status of Women committee  The victims and the police would have an alarm. The police would know whenever a perpetrator breaches a specified perimeter, signalling that they are near us. We would know too, and that would allow us to leave and hide.

Status of Women committee  Yes, the perpetrators always know where we are. What they want is to get close to us, but we never know when they are going to arrive. If the Bill S‑205 is passed, we would hear an alarm warning us to leave and hide, and telling us that the police are on their way. We could go to a neighbour's, for example.

Status of Women committee  That's right.

Status of Women committee  I didn't quite understand your question. There were a few outages in my headset.

Status of Women committee  That's how it would work. The bracelet triggers an alarm as soon as the person is within, let's say, a kilometre from the victim. The victim gets a warning and the police get one too. They know when they hear an alarm that he's inside the perimeter. A police officer will track him down.

Status of Women committee  Good afternoon. My name is Martine Jeanson, a former victim of spousal violence, the founder of Maison des Guerrières, and a spousal and domestic violence worker. I'm not just going to tell you my story, but also the story of Cindy Gosselin, beaten with hammer blows to the head, or Marianne, strangled and raped by her spouse, and Josianne Boucher, beaten and suffering head trauma, Jessica, whose vagina was smashed with a baseball bat, and Louise, whose ex‑spouse failed to comply with his conditions more than 28 times.