You as an experienced police officer have, of course, the kind of experience that is vital to getting this right. You are absolutely right that the idea that defence with reference to provocation in a case where a spouse has murdered his wife is absurd in many of the cases we've seen. I think it's repugnant to most Canadians.
This bill essentially says that in a case where the perpetrator is being charged with murder, there will be no defence that has any reference to what the victim said. That will not constitute a defence ever. There will still be a defence by provocation, but the provocation will have to involve an indictable offence punishable by up to a minimum of five years. It has to be a violent act in and of itself.
Of course, where there are no witnesses, it will be hard to prove these things, and we leave that to the justice system. The idea that someone could defend the act of murder by saying someone said this, that, or the other thing is absolutely absurd and will end with this bill.
The Shafia case, which ended in Kingston, Ontario, but took place in many communities, is the most famous recent example. It involves polygamy, forced marriage, and murder. There were convictions in this case. Did the accused, the murderer, feel that family honour was at stake? Yes. Was the defence of provocation used or successful? No, but it's important for all of us to ensure that it never will be used in a case such as this.
Of course, closer to home for me there is the murder case of Ms. Fazli in Ajax, which is still under way. This is a case where a sponsored spouse, a husband in this case, who had come very recently from Afghanistan, is accused of having murdered the sponsor and is the only suspect in the case.
These are the kinds of cases that show us how one case of violence, especially on the ultimate scale of murder, is too many and how we need to protect women and girls in our immigration system and in our justice system generally, even more than they are already protected under the relatively strong system we have in Canada.