Evidence of meeting #17 for Justice and Human Rights in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pandemic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
This stuff is just too interesting. It's Mr. Garrison's fault.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid
Maybe Ms. Levman can save the answer. Absolutely.
Maybe Ms. Levman, in Monsieur Fortin's next round of questions, you can answer that one to begin.
Thank you.
Mr. Garrison, you have five minutes. Go ahead, sir.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I know that after today, we will have testimony from many of the frontline organizations. I think they can address some of the questions being raised by Monsieur Fortin.
I would like to ask about the U.K. example—of course, we're back to Ms. Levman—and whether it has been the experience in Britain that charges have been laid and whether the offence of coercive and controlling behaviour has been successfully prosecuted there. What has been their actual, on-the-ground experience with the new criminal offence?
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
Thank you. That's a great question.
My understanding from the statistics is that it was a bit of a slow start, that training was necessary for police officers and that the incidents—I guess they call them “detected incidents”, meaning incidents that have been reported to police for a year—have been increasing each year. Some of the literature that I will send to the committee will address that for you.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
Has there been successful prosecution of the offence showing that, as some have suggested, it isn't too vague or too difficult to prevent the police and prosecutors from using it to address these forms of violence?
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
I can't speak to successful prosecutions because I didn't read literature about prosecutions per se. We need to remember that this offence was only enacted in 2015, so there really is limited evidence about it. What I can say is that charges were slow in coming under that offence at first, and I understand that they have been increasing every year. This corresponds with police training to help them better understand the nature of the offending— what to look for, addressing it, evidentiary issues, etc.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
Thank you, Ms. Levman.
This is on the question of whether creation of a new criminal offence on coercive or controlling behaviour would be particularly difficult for the victims in terms of having to provide evidence in court. Would this be something that would be peculiar to such an offence or is it something that women already face in our court system in terms of trying to respond to assault charges or to criminal harassment charges? Is it something where we need a much broader attack or would it be something that would be more limited to this offence?
Ms. Smylie.
Director General, Communications and Public Affairs Branch, Research, Results and Delivery Branch, Department for Women and Gender Equality
We do know that creating more supportive and responsive justice and legal systems is important. In fact, it's one of the pillars under our strategy to address gender-based violence in Canada.
With respect to other offences, we also know from data that only 5% of sexual assaults are reported to police. Sixty-four per cent of spousal violence is not reported to police. This indicates to me that there's an issue. People aren't reporting for a reason and we need to look at our justice and legal systems for how we can create more responsive and supportive systems for victims.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
Thank you very much.
I believe it was Ms. Bouchard who raised the question of peace bonds. One of the frustrations that I heard both from police and from women's support organizations in my riding was that the kinds of controlling behaviour that are talked about in my proposed bill can't really be addressed in the existing peace bond provisions.
Could you comment on that?
Senior Legal Counsel and Director, Department of Justice
I will defer to my colleague Nathalie, as I was reading her notes to the committee prior to her joining the meeting.
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
Peace bonds really do apply any time a person fears on a reasonable ground that another person will cause personal injury, including to their spouse or child, or will damage their property. In cases where there is a pattern of behaviour that indicates certain types of risk, but insufficient evidence, let's say, to support a criminal charge, peace bonds can be a very useful tool. They can be sought by anyone. Their breach can be quite a serious criminal offence, including when that's repeated. There may be different views on how they could be used. In this particular context I don't disagree, but I do think it is an available tool, and an important one, given that in criminal law we of course have evidentiary issues and a very high burden to meet.
They are a very important safety tool.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid
Thank you very much.
That concludes your time, Mr. Garrison.
We'll now go to Mr. Lewis.
Go ahead, sir, for five minutes.
Conservative
Chris Lewis Conservative Essex, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses as well today.
I was a firefighter for seven and a half years, and I responded to a lot of domestic calls as well. Today, a lot of my close family members are either officers or front-line paramedics. Back in the day, domestic abuse was a major issue, and I can only imagine now. In speaking with my family members and friends who are still on the front lines, it has absolutely gone over the top. They've charted right out. I speak to them quite often on this. So this is a very good discussion, and a very important discussion on so many fronts.
To the Department of Justice, there have been concerns over a lack of access to the courts during the pandemic. There is uncertainty for women fleeing abusive relationships that they will be able to get their kids. How has the justice department been responding to these concerns?
Director and General Counsel, Department of Justice
Perhaps I could speak to that particular issue.
As I mentioned, certainly in the family law realm, which is where parenting issues are generally addressed, as Ms. Levman mentioned there has been a different experience in different jurisdictions, primarily related to levels of COVID. In some jurisdictions, courts have operated without closing at all, whereas in others there has been quite an impact. Certainly there have been some innovations in terms of moving to virtual courts; there are many courts now dealing with many issues on a virtual basis. Certainly, we've heard of many parenting issues that have arisen during the pandemic, and some of those cases have been particularly challenging in family violence cases.
We have been in discussions with our federal, provincial and territorial colleagues to share best practices across jurisdictions in terms of how they are addressing some of those issues in the context of their services and courts to enable that information sharing. As I mentioned, the Divorce Act amendments, which for the first time recognize family violence in the Divorce Act, come into force on March 1 of this year.
Conservative
Chris Lewis Conservative Essex, ON
Thank you so much. You actually led into my next question, so that was a fantastic answer. We appreciate that.
I understand, and I believe it to be true, that there's a huge backlog of criminal cases across most of the provinces due to COVID-19. What dialogue has the department had with your provincial counterparts to address this?
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
I'll answer that question, but I'm afraid I don't have a substantive answer for you, because it is a procedural question and you don't have justice officials before you today who are experts in that area. However, if you'd like, I could follow up with my colleagues on that question.
Conservative
Chris Lewis Conservative Essex, ON
Thank you. Yes, I would appreciate that.
Is the department currently looking at any legislative changes as a result of the pandemic and the increase in domestic violence?
Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
As part of our work, we are always reviewing case law in terms of implementation of laws that have been enacted in the past to strengthen responses. We're always talking with our colleagues in FPT fora to address issues of common concern. This would be one of those issues that we keep the lines open with them about, including the procedural ones that you mentioned before.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid
Thank you very much.
I will now go to Mr. Sarai for five minutes. Go ahead, sir.
Liberal
Randeep Sarai Liberal Surrey Centre, BC
Thank you, Chair.
I thank all my colleagues, as well as the guests. This is my first justice committee meeting, so I'm honoured to be here.
This is a deep subject for my heart. I have several women's shelters in my riding, including Nisa, as well as the Surrey Women's Centre, both providing excellent services to sometimes the most vulnerable people in our society: women at risk. I was very pleased to find a way to announce some funding for them right at the beginning of the pandemic, in April, which I think helped them, although, at the time, probably nobody could predict the staggering increase in level of cases.
Ms. Smylie, can you tell us what the government can do better to prevent some of this violence and reduce these patterns of control?
Director General, Communications and Public Affairs Branch, Research, Results and Delivery Branch, Department for Women and Gender Equality
It's a very heavy question. Given the complexity of gender-based violence, there is no single thing that will fix this issue. One thing that the government is doing right now is advancing a national action plan to end gender-based violence. As you've all heard here today, the pandemic has reinforced the fact that we need a national action plan. We need coordinated action across the country, across the various sectors. It has certainly amplified its urgency.
To that end, the Government of Canada is working very closely with provincial and territorial governments to advance this national action plan to end gender-based violence. Starting in 2020, we engaged over 1,500 survivors, community organizations and other experts to answer this very question, “What do we need to do?”, and to develop the national action plan.
It's important to note that we met a really important milestone on this national action plan just a couple of weeks ago, on January 21 and 22, when federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for the status of women endorsed a federal, provincial and territorial ministerial joint declaration for a Canada free of gender-based violence. That joint declaration affirms a common vision, principles and goals for responding to gender-based violence.
That work continues and will be our road map for addressing this issue.