Good morning, Madam Chair and honourable members. Thank you for inviting me to share insights today.
I'm Deepa Mattoo, executive director and lawyer with the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, an organization dedicated to supporting survivors of violence, particularly marginalized and racialized women and gender-diverse individuals located in Toronto.
Today I aim to take you on a journey through the complexities of coercive behaviour, weaving in the story of Maria to illustrate the challenges that survivors face in seeking justice.
We are gathered here at a critical juncture in our understanding of gender-based violence. It is widely recognized as an epidemic, transcending boundaries of race, ethnicity and socio-economic status. Within this landscape lies the insidious pattern of coercive behaviour, a web of assault, threats and humiliation designed to control survivors. Embedded within gender-based violence, coercive behaviour is a harmful pattern. It's not just one event; it's a series, often accompanied by emotional abuse, leaving victims feeling trapped and powerless. The challenges posed by coercive behaviour are particularly pronounced within the legal system, especially for marginalized communities, such as immigrants, refugees, the disabled and gender-diverse individuals. This pattern of abuse often involves emotional manipulation, leaving victims feeling trapped and powerless.
Furthermore, as the committee just heard, litigation abuse is a prevalent issue across legal domains, including family situations such as parental alienation, children's custody, lack of spousal support and so many other experiences. There are also experiences within the criminal and immigration law.
Let me introduce you to Maria, a courageous woman caught in the grips of coercive control. Maria is a racialized immigrant woman with limited English proficiency. She found herself trapped in an abusive marriage here in Canada. Her husband, equipped with the resources and fluent in the language, manipulated the legal system to his advantage. He even flipped the narrative, getting Maria charged in a criminal case where he's the real perpetrator. It is a terrifying scenario where power imbalances and language barriers leave Maria unjustly accused and vulnerable. Maria's story echoes the experiences of countless survivors at the clinic.
In response, many jurisdictions have enacted legislation to combat coercive control. In England, Wales and Scotland, they have introduced specific laws criminalizing coercive behaviour. However, while these legal changes represent progress, they come with their own set of challenges. Criminalizing coercive behaviour has not always resulted in increased convictions and reduced rates of domestic abuse. In fact, in many of these experiences, survivors find themselves further disempowered by the legal system, facing barriers to justice. The legal system does not understand the experiences of survivors.
Can there be change? Of course. What can change for people like Maria?
We must provide training for criminal justice system actors and family law actors to better understand and respond to these coercive behaviour cases. We need increased diversity among our justice system professionals to bring vital perspectives to foster trust with survivors. We need—