Until we address the question of whether police or judicial stakeholders are the best professionals on the ground to receive disclosures of sexual assault or domestic violence in one way or another, the same victimization will be repeated. Whether we add coercive control to the list of offences or operate through the existing Criminal Code offences, I believe that the essence of the criminal process is that women feel like victims again.
While this isn't the issue I'm raising today, I don't believe that adding the notion of domestic violence or coercive control to the Criminal Code will address the problem of repeat victimization. It's the very structure of the system that is lacking.
This is why I invite you to review the system, to consider the possibility of establishing a new area of law or to think about what could be done outside the law.