Status of Women committee  The experience of sexual exploitation is actually also an experience of coercive control. We have written extensively about it, some of it published, and I'm happy to share it with the committee. Essentially, by expanding and extending criminalization of coercive control to include victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking, it would give the police yet another tool in their tool box to intervene sooner into experiences of sexual exploitation.

Status of Women committee  I think that we should look to other jurisdictions that have done an amazing job in terms of their statutory guidelines around coercive control to ensure that victims have safeguards around them, especially marginalized victims who come from BIPOC backgrounds. The United Kingdom put in some great statutory guidelines.

Status of Women committee  We think there should be criminalization of coercive control. We think it adds another tool in the tool box of the justice system, both in terms of family law—it's great that it's part of our Divorce Act now—and in the criminalization of it. Just to address the issue you raised that men experience coercive control, one of the reasons that we think coercive control should be one of the frameworks that we look at is that it's a non-gendered framework that actually allows whoever is the victim to get the support they need, regardless of their gender.

Status of Women committee  They do have coercive legislation of a form. It's called the About-Picard law. It's a very broad criminalization of coercive control that's not specific to intimate partner violence. It covers any type of coercion, so it's also been used in cases of cults and religiously coercive groups.

Status of Women committee  We actually had an opportunity to work with Laurel Collins on the development and writing of that bill, so we are very familiar with it. We do have some recommendations around the length of time that the bill should be applicable post relationship, as well as what types of relationships the bill should cover.

Status of Women committee  I don't know if there was a question, but we 100% heartily agree.

Status of Women committee  Absolutely. We've put in a brief that was part of the report on the standing committee for justice around coercive control, with five recommendations, in particular for the federal government. Among those recommendations, we think there should be some sort of commissioner of coercive control or domestic abuse, who is able to infuse all parts of the federal government with a lens to understand coercive control and how it needs to be infused.

Status of Women committee  Yes, absolutely. I'll do that.

Status of Women committee  There are no countries that have walked it back. In terms of conversations in the research that we've done with lawmakers in the justice system as well as with organizations on the ground, there has been a sense either that the law has been a resounding success or that the law is good but just isn't doing enough in terms of the protections it can offer to victims.

Status of Women committee  Absolutely. It has to be done with the wraparound.

Status of Women committee  The College of Policing has done some extensive research on how the law has been used and also to answer some of the concerns that I think were pre-existing before the law was there, as well as the other concerns that I think we have in Canada—about it being used against both victims and marginalized and racialized populations.

Status of Women committee  The answer is absolutely yes. Sagesse actually has developed a program called Real Talk, which teaches informal supporters how to recognize domestic violence, empathize, ask the right questions and listen, because we believe that there are absolutely indicators that people can recognize that can identify coercive control, whether it's in a workplace setting, a family setting or even a community setting.

Status of Women committee  You would think so, and I wish that it was easy. I wish that coercive controllers had signs on their foreheads. However, I think that one of the previous speakers talked about trafficking and sexual exploitation, and really, coercive control in cases of intimate partner violence is no different.

Status of Women committee  Thank you so much for inviting us to speak on this important topic. Domestic abuse is far more than a black eye or broken bone, but all too often we focus on instances of physical abuse, since that's what our laws commonly recognize, leaving the 60% to 80% of survivors who experience non-physical forms of abuse to go unvalidated and unsupported.

Justice committee  The spike has not disappeared at all. We know that pretty much across Canada, rates of domestic abuse went up by about 30% during the pandemic, and the rates have not gone down. We also know from past incidents like this, past crises in society—for example, the wildfires in Alberta—that when the numbers go up, they actually don't go down, and if they do go down, it takes 10 to 15 years.