Thank you very much.
My name is Melanie Omeniho. I'm the president of Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak. I'd like to acknowledge that I'm joining you today from Treaty 6 territory and the motherland of the Métis nation.
Les Femmes Michif is known as a national indigenous women's organization that is mandated to represent women of the Métis nation across the Métis nation motherland. We advocate nationally and internationally for the equal treatment, health and well-being of all Métis people. We focus on the rights, needs and priorities of Métis women, youth, children and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Métis people.
I'd like to present that we proceed with caution around Bill C-332, an act to amend the Criminal Code with regard to controlling or coercive conduct. Although we're supportive of it in principle, this bill does not go far enough to fully define the act of coercive control. It limits it only in terms of intimate partner relationships.
To begin with, this puts the burden of proof of significant fear of violence on victims. Victims of coercive control often don't identify what they are experiencing as coercive control. It happens slowly and insidiously. Coercive control exists beyond a two-year limit in a domestic relationship and does occur between intimate partners who have not agreed to be married. In this light, we recommend that before passing this bill, we redefine the persons who are connected.
What this bill also fails to recognize is the unique presentation of violence in 2SLGBTQQIA+ relationships. Regarding sexual exploitation, this act does not include this controlling and coercive conduct within the existing definition. It also does not include children and other family members who may also fall victim.
Canada has used as an example the bill passed in the U.K. around controlling or coercive behaviour. What the U.K. bill does not consider is the specific implications around Métis women and the strained historical relationship with police and other colonial processes. Indigenous women living at the intersection of multiple sites of oppression face the highest rates of violence of all. That's especially for indigenous women with current or past child welfare involvement who are living in poverty, are often homeless or unhoused, are disabled, are navigating trauma or have different substance abuses. About two-thirds of Métis women self-report experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. Nearly half are survivors of intimate partner violence.
This law relies heavily on the myth that the police are the only ones who can keep us safe. It would be part of a police officer's role to determine whether a situation should be considered as controlling or coercive conduct. Police attitudes usually focus on the presence of physical violence and on specific incidents, rather than a pattern of coercive control. This focus also minimizes other forms of violence. Too often in these cases, police do not see survivors as credible victims or witnesses. Rather than assessing protection, survivors are approached with dismissals and suspicion.
We also note that indigenous women are being criminalized for fighting back. This is reflected in the stats showing that indigenous women are 13 and 15 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-indigenous women and indigenous men. Indigenous women's incarceration rates in provincial jails are also alarming. In Saskatchewan, indigenous women are 29 times more likely to be jailed than non-indigenous women.
What is also integral in the enactment of this bill is a robust plan for information sharing, training and education. This is not limited to the police and all players around the justice system. It's most importantly for women and gender-diverse folks to understand what controlling conduct and coercive control are. The emphasis of risk assessment tools on physical violence and injuries leads to the minimization of non-physical violence.
We ask if police officers will be able to assess intimate partner violence situations that do not present physical violence when they arrive on the scene. Will they have enough understanding of the dynamic to see if they are in the presence of potentially harmful situations in which coercive control is an issue?