When I say that, I'm referring to raising the awareness of what coercive control is and what it looks like.
We need to really invest in being able to name those behaviours, as well as naming the impact coercive control can have on women. We know there are many women who do not come forward because they say, “He didn't hit me” or “He didn't push me,” yet in these conditions that they're living under, they feel that they don't have autonomy, they don't have any power, their self esteem has been impacted and they feel they can't even manage because they continue to be humiliated and told they don't have the right or the intellect to lead certain parts of their lives.
That kind of coercive control is long term and damaging to their psychological well-being, and we need to be able to talk about this. We know that coercive control, however it looks, is usually the foundation before we start to see physical violence, including even extreme forms of physical violence like strangulation, which is also on the rise in our country.
In Peel Region right now, which includes Brampton and Mississauga, we see one strangulation per day. That is what is reported to police, and we know that not all women go to police.
We also know the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention tells us the statistic is that a woman is 750% more likely to be killed by that man who attempts to strangle her, and the strangulation isn't the first step: The first steps are the coercive control tactics, and once that person feels they are not effective anymore, you see the physical violence coming into the situation.