Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for the invitation.
To begin, I would like to say that we have seen a lot of progress in recent years when it comes to violence against women and spousal violence. In the circumstances of the pandemic, in particular, some of our work has shown that feminist organizations, especially, have been very innovative in making sure that the needs of women and children experiencing spousal violence are met.
We have also seen that in Quebec, following publication of the report entitled "Rebâtir la confiance", a bundle of measures was put in place to provide better support for victims of spousal violence and sexual assault.
Nonetheless, our work shows that there are still gaps in how spousal violence is being addressed. Some of those gaps can be seen in the inconsistent treatment of spousal violence in various fields—that is, criminal law, family law and youth protection. This situation creates numerous difficulties and barriers for families, who must often navigate these various fields simultaneously.
I would like to draw your attention to one particular persistent gap in how spousal violence is handled, that becomes apparent especially when spouses or parents are separated: the confusion that often arises between spousal violence and separation-related disputes. Our various studies have shown that in the various fields I referred to, situations involving spousal violence are unfortunately often interpreted as severe separation-related disputes. That presents a problem in that when a spousal violence situation is interpreted as a separation-related dispute, an appropriate assessment of the violence and the consequences of the violence is not done. There is also a risk that the dangerousness of violent individuals and the risks of homicide will not be properly assessed.
As well, a report recently published by the committee examining deaths related to spousal violence in Quebec shows that some situations in which children were killed in a spousal violence situation were unfortunately misinterpreted as being severe separation-related disputes, with the result that the various actors underestimated the risks associated with the homicides. In situations of that nature, the individuals who had committed spousal violence were not dealt with properly and were not referred to the right resources that would have enabled them to acknowledge their responsibility for their violent behaviour. What is also extremely problematic in situations of this nature is that when women victims of spousal violence do everything they can to try to keep their children safe, they are often perceived as hostile individuals who are fuelling the conflict or even causing parental alienation.
I really want to stress the fact that in recent years, through our work, we have observed growing use of the concept of parental alienation against women victims of spousal violence. This use of pseudoscience poses a serious problem in that it punishes women and children and often puts them in a situation where they are unable to report violent behaviour on the part of the spouse or father.
When it comes to the possible solutions I would like to propose, I think, first, that it is important to have a comprehensive strategy or action plan that would ensure greater consistency between the various systems or fields I referred to earlier.
It is also important to strengthen the concept of coercive control. It has already been adopted in the Divorce Act, but it should be incorporated into the Criminal Code too. This would mean criminalizing coercive control, as other countries have done. In addition, there should be a consistent understanding of spousal violence, in particular when it comes to youth protection services, across Canada.
On the question of coercive control, it is also important to understand clearly that this form of violence generally continues after separation and that special risks arise in that situation. It is also important to clearly recognize children as co-victims of spousal violence and coercive control.
Obviously, it is important that legislation and policy recognize this form of violence, but that is not sufficient. The concept of coercive control absolutely must be accompanied by training programs for all actors in the various fields, including social workers, lawyers, and all judges involved in these situations. In my opinion, the training should deal with spousal violence and coercive control, but it would also be beneficial to provide better training for all of the actors on the subject of children's rights, including their right to protection, but also their right to participate in decision-making processes.
I also think it is important to have mechanisms available for cooperation or specialization. Quebec has recently instituted specialized courts for spousal violence and sexual assault cases. That is a promising avenue, and we really need to have mechanisms like that.
As a final point, there should also be high quality, accredited programs for violent spouses, but, and most importantly, we must absolutely support the feminist movement and feminist organizations, because research has shown that they are the ones who bring about change when it comes to violence against women and spousal violence.
Thank you.