Public Safety Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you. I'm going to have to cut you off there. I'm sorry.

Thank you, Ms. Kramp-Neuman.

We go now to Mr. Schiefke for four minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to begin by thanking Ms. Riendeau for her outstanding work at Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale. In my riding, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, there is a group called Hébergement La Passerelle that does remarkable work. On their behalf and from all citizens in my community, thank you.

I would like to say the same to you, Ms. Martin, and to you, Ms. MacDougall, for your exceptional work.

In a brief submitted by the Canadian Women's Foundation to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in May 2018, they highlighted the fact that, “In Canadian households, the presence of firearms in the home is the single greatest risk factor for lethality of domestic violence.” It's something that overwhelmingly impacts women, because 80% of those killed by intimate partner violence are women.

Ms. Martin, I appreciate the statistics you gave in your opening remarks that showed that this actually increased since 2019 and I appreciate your sharing that with us.

I also want to thank all three of you for sharing your amendments and the changes you suggested in your opening remarks.

What I'm hoping you can do—and I'm going to give you each 45 seconds to a minute to do this—is to touch upon one or two aspects of this bill that are going to make a difference. A witness who appeared this morning said that this will do nothing at all to combat violence against women and violence related to guns in Canada. Based on your experience and your expertise, if you could choose one or two things in this bill that you know will make a difference, what would those be and why?

I don't know who to start with.

Perhaps I'll start with you, Ms. MacDougall. I see you nodding your head, and I apologize for putting you on the spot.

[Angela Marie MacDougall]

Not at all.

This is the dilemma, isn't it? We have so many opportunities to address gender-based violence, domestic violence, and we have yet to move in a fulsome way. The national action plan that Women's Shelters Canada has advocated for 10 years is a road map for getting to the root causes, building services, building prevention and addressing legal issues. Overall, that is a really key, important intervention that we should move wholeheartedly into.

This piece around the legislation is important. However, it is a small sliver of the bigger picture. Thank you.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Ms. MacDougall.

I'll turn it over to Ms. Martin.

[Lise Martin]

It is known that the sale of firearms has increased significantly in the last decade. For that reason alone, we need to address firearms. There needs to be more control.

The section about revoking a licence, I do believe, will make a difference.

I will slip in here the importance of sustaining the sector as well, because it is so important—as Angela was just stating earlier—in terms of the multiple steps that women need to go through when they are finally able to escape a situation. The sector plays a very important role in ensuring that safety, and I think this bill is part of a larger continuum. It's not one piece; it's—

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Martin.

I'll give the last word to Madame Riendeau.

[Louise Riendeau]

To keep all victims of domestic violence safe, all parts of the safety net have to work. All the various measures need to mesh tightly together. If there is a protection order, revocation of a licence needs to be considered. If there has been violence or suspected violence, licence revocation once again needs to be considered. It's important to ensure that there are no loopholes that would enable spouses to continue to terrorize victims and their children, or even kill them.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Schiefke.

We're going to finish off with Madame Michaud.

You have the floor for two minutes.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Martin, you mentioned how long it can take to revoke a licence. It may be somewhat more technical, but in clause 41, Bill C‑21 amends section 89 of the Firearms Act to require the competent authority to advise the chief firearms officer without delay when it makes, varies or revokes a protection order. Some groups have pointed out that the expression “without delay” is somewhat vague and doesn't mean much, and have suggested setting a specific time period, like 24 hours.

Does this proposal strike you as reasonable? What's your opinion?

After that, I would like to hear Ms. Riendeau's point of view.

[Lise Martin]

Yes, it seems altogether reasonable to me. I think there should also be consequences if it's not complied with.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Ms. Riendeau, I see that you're nodding.

[Louise Riendeau]

I fully agree. The information has to be provided quickly.

In fact, if a violent spouse who intends to harm his family is allowed too much time, he can become a time bomb and end up acting out. I believe 24 hours is appropriate.

Similarly, if a licence is revoked, the owner of a firearm should be required to turn it into a peace officer within 24 hours, unless there are special circumstances that make this impossible.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you.

To conclude, I asked you to provide the committee with a list of suggested amendments if you had any, but I heard you say that you were completely in agreement with the amendments proposed by groups like PolySeSouvient.

This group did indeed give us a helpful list of suggested amendments designed to provide more protection to victims of stalking or domestic violence, and the committee is pleased to be able to work with them to try and improve Bill C‑21 wherever possible.

Thank you for your time this evening, and your testimony.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Michaud.

[Louise Riendeau]

The National Association of Women and the Law has also done some excellent work in its proposed amendments.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

That's great. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

The witnesses are advised that they can submit to the clerk any contribution they like of that nature. It will be translated as appropriate and distributed to the committee.

That brings our meeting tonight to a close. I'd like to thank all of the witnesses for sharing their valuable time and experience with us and for helping us with our study. Thank you all.

We are now adjourned.