Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I've given notice of motion regarding coercive controlling behaviour, and I want to provide a preamble, because we haven't discussed this in a public session of the justice committee in this Parliament.
Two years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, I did one of my regular calls around to social services agencies and police agencies, and I learned that one of the first things that happened was a spike in calls for assistance in intimate partner violence. After discussions with community agencies and the police about how we could best respond, I tabled a private member's bill calling for the criminalization of coercive and controlling behaviour as a tool for earlier intervention in problematic family situations, and as a potential tool for reducing violence in intimate partner relationships.
As I had no luck in the private members' draws in the last two Parliaments, I asked the justice committee if they would consider the issue. There was unanimous support from all parties and we held hearings in the last Parliament. They were very important hearings, and one of the most important outcomes of the hearings bears repeating: in this country, we still lose one woman every six days to intimate partner violence. We need more supports to deal with this crisis.
At the hearings, we heard how coercive and controlling behaviour is in itself a form of violence, but also how it's almost always a precursor to physical violence. We heard from a wide variety of all kinds of witnesses that Parliament really needed to take the issue more seriously and needed to act.
Almost a year ago, this committee tabled a unanimous report calling for the criminalization of coercive and controlling behaviour, and improving supports for victims of intimate partner violence. Unfortunately, the election call killed that initiative, so today, I'm pleased to move my motion—which members received notice of—that this committee retable the justice committee's unanimous report on coercive and controlling behaviour and ask for a response from the government.
I'm anticipating support from all parties once again. I know everyone acknowledges that this is a crisis—I think “crisis” is the right word—that we need to respond to. By retabling this report, we'll get this back on the agenda of both the House and the government.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
