Good afternoon. My name is Roxana Parsa. I'm a staff lawyer at the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, also known as LEAF.
I'm grateful to appear today from what is now known as Toronto, which is on the traditional lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Wendat, Anishinabe and the Haudenosaunee nations.
As you know, LEAF is a national charitable organization that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans and non-binary people through litigation, law reform and public education. For almost 40 years now, LEAF has advocated for the need to improve the justice system's response to gender-based violence.
Thank you for inviting me here today to speak about coercive control. We're glad to see this issue being the focus of study at this committee. As this committee has heard, coercive control is prevalent across societal lines. This can present as a pattern of abuse through threats, intimidation, control, and induced fear often over a span of many years. Coercive control can creep into and impact every aspect of someone's life, their financial freedom, their social life and community connections, physical freedom, with even elements such as immigration status being used as a threat. These patterns must be recognized as an insidious form of violence that can have devastating consequences.
However, it is this very nuanced and complex nature of coercive control that also makes a criminal legal response challenging and raises significant concerns about the implementation of any law. Frequent lack of physical evidence means that recognizing the existence of abuse requires an understanding of the nuances and context of a relationship, often over many years. How can a survivor show these layers of control to a police officer or provide enough evidence of psychological harm to meet the burden of proof required by a court? Even when an arrest occurs, the experiences in the United Kingdom have shown that the vast majority do not lead to charges, let alone to a conviction. Moreover, how can we ensure that the police officer's discretion is being used in a manner that recognizes the subtle abuse when it is present.
The existence of systemic oppression, including histories of colonialism and racism embedded within the justice system, significantly heighten the potential for error or misapplication of law. We've seen similar risks arise in the past where mandatory charging policies have resulted in charges being brought against survivors of violence. Moreover, we know that the criminal law and the legal system broadly continue to fail survivors of gender-based violence. These systems are not providing justice, nor are they leading to more safety. We regularly hear about survivors who continue to be retraumatized through their experiences. Relying on the criminal legal system as a response to abuse may in fact unintentionally exclude many from even seeking assistance. Potential for harm is particularly heightened for survivors from already vulnerable communities, such as Black, indigenous, disabled, or non-status peoples, who have valid reasons for distrusting these systems. This only deepens the existing inequalities that exist.
The law does not exist in a vacuum and we think it's important to think about the realities of who is able to access the law and how it will be applied on the ground. This is why instead of focusing on the criminal law, we strongly recommend a diverted focus on prevention and education. This means providing increased funding for shelters and transitional housing in addition to funding affordable long-term housing for survivors to have places to live when they leave their relationships. We need ongoing and sustainable funding for social services to provide trauma-informed anti-oppressive services like mental health care or child care so that survivors know they have places to turn for support. We also need more funding for programs like legal aid and independent legal advice so that survivors can get the legal assistance they may need to help figure out their options.
We also echo the many witnesses who have advocated for more education. We need mandatory training for actors in the justice system on coercive control as well as ongoing training on systemic bias and racism. We also need public education about coercive control so that survivors and their communities can recognize these patterns and feel validated and understand that it's being recognized as abuse.
For decades now, the increased rates in gender-based violence have consistently shown that turning to the criminal legal system has proven to be an ineffective response. We think it's time that we turn to focus on resourcing our communities and systems with the infrastructure required to create real safety for survivors and to allow them to move forward. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your questions.