Good afternoon.
My name is Lisa Pigeau. I'm the director of intergovernmental relations with Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak.
I'd like to acknowledge that I'm joining you today from Spencerville, and that I humbly reside on the traditional territories of the Anishinabe, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Oneida peoples.
Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak, also known as LFMO, advocates nationally and internationally for the rights, needs and priorities of Métis women, youth, children and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Métis.
Verbal assaults; threats; humiliation; isolation from friends, families and support networks; exploiting, spying, denying, blame-shifting, intimidation, punishment, tracking, a pattern, not a single incident: These are all terms that can be included in the definition of coercive behaviour. Is this an inclusive list? No, it's not.
The problem is, how do you prove a pattern of controlling behaviours when the impacts are insidious and one may not realize they're experiencing coercive behaviour and report it. More often, it may not be realized until physical violence ensues. Almost two-thirds of Métis women self-report experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Nearly half are survivors of intimate partner violence.
Canada has used as an example a bill passed in the U.K. about controlling and coercive conduct. What the U.K. bill does not consider is the specific implications around Métis women and the historically strained relationship with police and other colonial processes. Pair this with the fact that systemic racism is still rampant in all structures that are intended to protect us.
Upon criminalization of coercive behaviour, will police officers be able to assess intimate partner violence situations that do not present the physical violence when they arrive on scene? Will they have enough understanding of the dynamic to see whether someone is in a potentially harmful situation?
It must also be asked in what scenarios outside of intimate partner violence women and gender-diverse folks face coercive control. Can it be experienced in an employment scenario or in health care systems? Yes—we see this in the case of forced and coerced sterilizations and in other systems.
The burden of proof will always fall upon the victim, who must try to convince authorities that they have been coercively controlled.
The emphasis on physical violence and injuries in risk-assessment tools leads to the minimizing of non-physical violence. Interpretation is further complicated by systemic racism and further compounded by the individual biases of persons in positions of authority.
At the same time, we hear of an increase in threats utilizing technology, such as text messaging and social media channels. A fundamental concern that has been raised by Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak is that reports of IPV are often weaponized against women and gender-diverse folks. This is the case when child welfare is brought in. The victims have already been threatened by the abuser that if they call the authorities they will lose their children. One may not feel that their interests will be protected if they report physical violence let alone coercive behaviour. Further to this, LFMO supports a ban on parental alienation accusations in order to protect women and children in family court. Parental alienation is used to silence mothers and children who report family violence.
What is required to counteract coercive behaviour is a vigorous plan for information sharing, training, education and awareness. Solutions to coercive behaviour require broad investment in the transition health sector, health care and education systems, community services, housing, and justice.
LFMO has several recommendations with respect to combatting coercive behaviour.
We'd like to see a scaling-up of distinctions-based, wraparound cultural supports; a guaranteed livable income with no service cuts; expanded access to secure, no-barrier housing; increased access to food security, transportation, holistic health care, education, and child care; access to free, responsive legal services; the decriminalization of survival; and the banning of parental alienation accusations against the mother in family violence cases.
LFMO remains committed to pushing back against wider systemic oppression that supports conditions for violence to flourish and that makes access to justice and care for Métis women and gender-diverse people even more difficult.
Thank you.