Status of Women Committee on Oct. 28th, 2024

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 127 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

I would like to remind all members of the following points. Please wait until I recognize you prior to speaking. This is a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

Thank you all for your co-operation.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, the committee will now commence its study of gender-based violence and femicides.

Before we welcome our witnesses, I'd like to provide a trigger warning. We will be discussing experiences related to violence and to femicides. This may be triggering to viewers with similar experiences. If indeed participants feel distressed or need help, they should advise the clerk.

For all witnesses and for all members of Parliament, it is important to recognize that these are very difficult discussions, so let's try to keep our conversations as compassionate as possible.

I would also like to note that in order to have an efficient and organized meeting, I will be indicating when you have one minute left and then when you have 30 seconds left, just to keep us on point.

Additionally, this is a reminder to the witnesses and to the members that we are not able to show any props during our testimony and our questions today.

For today's panel, as an individual, I would like to welcome Alison Irons by video conference.

In addition, we have Megan Walker, advocate to end male violence against women.

Representing End Violence Everywhere, we have Cait Alexander, founder.

Representing Safe Centre of Peel, we have Shelina Jeshani, director of strategic partnerships and collaboration, joining us by video conference.

Finally, from Women's Shelters Canada, we have Anuradha Dugal, executive director, joining us by video conference.

At this point, we will begin with our opening statements.

Ms. Irons, you have the floor. Please, go ahead.

[Alison Irons, As an Individual]

Good morning. I'd like to thank the committee for having invited me to speak today.

By way of introduction, I'm an ex-RCMP officer of nine years service who attended many so-called “domestic disputes” during my service. Also, at that time, I was on the board of the North Shore Women's Centre in North Vancouver, B.C., as a police adviser.

I've also worked as an Ontario government investigator and investigative manager for Ombudsman Ontario, primarily in the field of corrections, and I retired as a government director of enterprise-wide services. Further, I'm certified as a Canadian human resources leader, or CHRL.

Sadly, I'm also the mother of 26-year-old Lindsay Margaret Wilson, born July 30, 1986. My precious daughter and best friend was stalked and shot to death by her ex-intimate partner, a legal gun owner who never should have been granted a licence, in a murder-suicide on April 5, 2013, in Bracebridge, Ontario, just two weeks before completing her graduating exams. I accepted her degree from Nipissing University posthumously.

I want to emphasize to the committee that my daughter's assassin had never been violent with her until the day he murdered her in cold blood. He was clean-cut, articulate and from a well-to-do family of professionals in the community where he lived. He was also manipulative, artful and controlling with my daughter in a number of ways. He'd tell her she was the love of his life, but he would undermine her self-confidence by constantly criticizing her looks, her weight—she was slim, not overweight—her clothing choices, etc. She left the relationship twice when she caught him drug-dealing behind her back—another manipulation, as he was not the person he purported to be.

The first time, he lured her back with letters articulating his love for her, his apologies and the inevitable promises of changed behaviour. Occasionally, he [Technical Difficulty—Editor]

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Ms. Irons, you are frozen right now. I don't know if you can hear me, but we will suspend briefly while we fix it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

I'm not certain if Ms. Irons can hear me, but whether she can or cannot, we will proceed to our next witness, just in the interests of time. There are approximately two and a half minutes remaining in Ms. Irons' testimony, so we will circle back to her.

In the meantime, I would like to welcome Megan Walker, advocate to end male violence against women.

Ms. Walker, you have approximately five minutes.

[Megan Walker, Advocate to End Male Violence Against Women, As an Individual]

Thank you so much.

I'm a lifelong advocate to end male violence against women. When I last appeared before you, on July 31, I outlined how dire the situation is for women and girls in Canada. I spoke about femicide and told you that between 2019 and 2023, 840 women and girls were victims of femicide. That number continues to increase, and will do so until it is recognized as a criminal offence.

Femicide must be named as an offence in the Criminal Code. Naming femicide will help families heal; it will help with data collection, and it will help raise community awareness, which is so desperately needed so that the community knows what questions to ask if they suspect a woman is being abused.

I was an affiant in the 2023 Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Reform v. Attorney General case. Superior Court Justice R.F. Goldstein wrote in that decision:

Some women and girls report being victims of torture, gang rape, mutilation, whipping, and waterboarding at the hands of [their sex] purchasers and exploiters.

He also wrote:

The violence employed by exploiters can include aggressive grabbing, open or closed hand strikes, kicks, choking, or burning victims using cigarettes or curling irons. Violence can lead to significant visible injuries. It can also [cause] death.

We live in a country where, due to the failure of government to act, it appears that some in government may consider women and girls to be nothing more than objects to satisfy the porn-fuelled fantasies of men. While Justice Goldstein used the term “sex work”, I do not refer to any part of the commercial sex industry as work. It's not work. It's torture and can lead to femicide. Non-state torture must be added to the Criminal Code as a distinct crime.

If we are a country that truly wants to help women and girls to be safe, we need to invest in women and girls. They need a guaranteed living income, housing, counselling, education and other support services, and men need to stop torturing, raping and killing women.

Section 15 of the charter states:

Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

Women and girls are denied these rights. We are discriminated against based on sex. We are victims of femicide, killed because we are female. We are raped, assaulted, strangled and victims of non-state torture because we are female. Our homes are the most dangerous place we can be, a place where we are beaten and killed because we are female. We are objectified in every area of our lives because we are female. We are kept in poverty because we are female. We are denied opportunities because we are female. We are denied equal pay for equal work because we are female. We are denied justice in the legal and family courts. The courts ignore our evidence and call us liars because we are female.

The government has failed women and girls. It is the responsibility of the government to promote equality by creating legislative changes that comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to guarantee that women and girls are equal before and under the law. My heart aches every time a woman or girl becomes a victim of femicide. Today I am thinking about Cheryl Sheldon, Breanna Broadfoot, Tiffany Gates, their families and all victims of femicide, including Alison Irons' daughter. Femicide is preventable. These women should be alive.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you, Ms. Walker.

Next, I would like to welcome, representing End Violence Everywhere, founder Cait Alexander.

[Cait Alexander, Founder, End Violence Everywhere]

Thank you for inviting me back to the committee.

I hope you can recall the photos I shared with the committee on July 31, 2024, which was the anniversary of my attempted murder. They captured four hours of torture at the hands of my ex-boyfriend, who still remains an alleged abuser. He was charged eight times, but his charter rights superseded mine. He is free without consequence.

I am a survivor of intimate partner violence and a victim of the Canadian injustice system. My ex was not successful in killing me, but this country kills justice, and it kills safety.

This is the remainder of my speech, which was not heard in the summer. It is a non-exhaustive list of solutions provided by survivors, lawyers and professionals in other industries.

Declare IPV, SA and femicide a national state of emergency. With increases of 68%, 75% and 27% respectively, this is very fair.

Legislate and define the term “femicide” in the Criminal Code.

Include men and male-identifying persons in ending male violence against women.

Lawyers should be made available for victims pro bono before they report to the police, as we have an institutional culture of victim-blaming.

Immediately hire more trauma-informed judges and court staff with mandatory, in-person training and updates about new legislation.

Have police available at all times to take statements from an IPV or SA victim.

Hold violent offenders in custody until trial or on house arrest with ankle bracelets. There should be a zero-tolerance policy for any abuser who breaks bail conditions, and he should immediately be held in custody.

Create a registered IPV offender list. We have one for SA, and we desperately need one for IPV, starting at 16 years of age. Publicize this list on a website to protect women and girls.

Name offenders publicly immediately. Femicide is not a private issue.

Never use restraining orders, undertakings or peace bonds in egregious crimes that involve deadly force. They are not a solution.

Bail must be increased and scaled to the income of the abuser. Actually enforce bail conditions. Any surety must pay the amount up front and forfeit it if the perpetrator commits another offence. This money should then go back into a fund to directly support survivors.

Abusers who put meritless claims in the legal system should face severe penalties and criminal charges, including penalties for perjury.

Have absolutely zero discrimination against sexual orientation, length of relationship, race or any other form of discrimination against victims. Abuse is abuse.

All abusers who are convicted of any type of SA or IPV must complete in-person abuser programs, regardless of the intensity of the crime.

Amend section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights, perhaps with Bill C-392. There should be no time limit or stay permitted with human-on-human crimes.

Reformative justice is never to be utilized without the survivor's consent.

Re-educate victim services, as, in its current state, it is retraumatizing and not safe.

Do not revoke gun laws that protect victims and survivors.

Survivors' privacy should be protected from abuse. There should be no NDAs or subpoenas of personal information. This is in section 278 of the Criminal Code.

Provide criminal trials within a 90-day period. There must be no more waiting years and years on end.

It should be mandatory that every province and territory has a cabinet office dedicated to IPV, SA and femicide.

Funding should be available to support survivors in transition out of abusive environments with CPAs and other financial advisers.

Victims should not have to pay for their own transcripts online.

Restorative justice should still allow for a victim impact statement.

Abusive fathers should never, ever have access to children.

Make the punishment so severe that abusers will think twice, and when they proceed to abuse, actually follow through on condemning them to life sentences. Stop condemning the survivors.

Act urgently. We continue to lose innocent women every single day. Honestly, we really need your help.

Provincially, the NDP has been very vocal in supporting survivors. Federally, the Conservatives predominantly support us, save for a few non-partisan leaders who are actually putting people over politics. This clearly means that the harrowing issues survivors and victims face are being listened to not by the current governments, but only by the opposition parties. It also means that these issues are very explicitly non-partisan issues, so stop politicizing our fundamental human rights.

We need to stand together, especially as women and especially the people in this room. It costs Canada over $8 billion a year to deal with the aftermath of IPV alone. We could be preventing it with those funds. Prevention is worth more than the cure, and prevention is the only cure for femicide.

Brkti Berhe was stabbed to death on Thursday in front of her children right here in Ottawa. It cost her everything. The cost for her children is immeasurable.

This is the status of women committee, and the status of women in Canada is terrible. Stop kidding yourselves. Stop lying. Stop pretending. This type of behaviour is exactly what abusers use.

The hardest part is knowing that no amount of awareness, law or funding can bring back those who should have been survivors instead of victims. I cannot stand to lose another human being needlessly, based on bad policy.

Supporting survivors supports the community, but please do not mistake our kindness for weakness. We are not going away. The more you turn survivors away, the more we will band together. The more you try to silence us, the louder we will become. The more you ignore us the more visible we will be.

Will you stand on the right side of history?

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you very much, Ms. Alexander.

Next, representing the Safe Centre of Peel, we have Shelina Jeshani, director of strategic partnerships and collaboration, by video conference.

Thank you.

[Shelina Jeshani, Director, Strategic Partnerships and Collaboration, Safe Centre of Peel]

Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee.

My name is Shelina Jeshani. I'm the director of the Safe Centre of Peel, which is located in Brampton, Ontario, serving the region of Peel. I've had the privilege of addressing this committee on several occasions, and I convey my gratitude for today's invitation.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the many survivors who have courageously shared their stories, and I want to remember the women we have lost in our country as a result of gender-based violence. Femicide is the intentional killing of women, girls and gender-diverse individuals based on their gender, regardless of their relationship with the perpetrator. This can occur in various contexts, including intimate or familial relationships, or even when the victim doesn't know the perpetrator, such as in cases involving strangers. The unifying factor is the gendered motivation behind the killing, which distinguishes femicide from other forms of homicide.

Globally, women face disproportionate risks of gender-based violence, often ending in murder, solely because they are women. The data on intimate partner violence in Canada reveals a disturbing prevalence, though IPV remains under-reported. In 2023, Peel Regional Police alone responded to 9,570 IPV calls, with 486 of these cases involving strangulation—a clear indicator of escalating violence and a heightened lethality risk for victims. In 2023, the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses reported 62 femicides in Ontario, of which seven were in Peel Region.

The Ontario domestic violence death review committee identified femicide as both predictable and preventable, consistently highlighting common risk factors in cases that lead to femicide. To prevent these tragedies, the committee frequently recommends enhancing risk assessments, strengthening safety planning and expanding community-based support services. Additionally, they emphasize the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration, bringing together law enforcement, social services, health care providers and community organizations to build a unified response to intimate partner violence and to better protect those at risk.

The Safe Centre's model can play a crucial role in preventing femicide by providing a comprehensive, trauma-informed and survivor-centred approach to addressing GB violence. The Safe Centre is an innovative, evidence-based and best-practice model for how a community can work together to respond and provide a safety net for victims of IPV. The centre has been in operation since 2011 because of the commitment of our 24 community partners, led by Catholic Family Services Peel-Dufferin, which together provide an integrated and coordinated service delivery model.

As I have presented in the past, it took community organizations and the voices of survivors to dismantle silos, coordinate our service system response and provide holistic and integrated care. Survivors told us they did not want to have to repeat their stories over and over. They did not want to be told they couldn't bring their children with them to these different services. They often just gave up trying to travel from place to place and navigate a complex system they didn't understand. They didn't know where to go for help and what was really available for them. We were losing our early intervention opportunities.

The Safe Centre recognizes that cross-sectoral collaboration among human services is vital in responding to survivors of IPV. By providing a safe, confidential space, women experiencing abuse can access essential resources before violence escalates to the point of femicide. We understand that intimate partner violence does not begin with femicide. Instead, there are warning signs and patterns of escalating violence. At the Safe Centre, our partners are trained in risk assessment using a validated tool that allows us to approach risk in a unified, clear manner. This shared framework enables us to develop tailored safety plans that reflect each woman's unique circumstance, ensuring we meet each client's specific needs effectively and consistently. Our cross-sectoral partnerships allow us to create a service system for her and her children that is accessible.

The following are recommendations for your consideration.

There is a need for public awareness campaigns to educate Canadians about femicide and gender-based violence. The goal should be to raise awareness in order to support early intervention and prevention.

Recognize femicide as a specific crime under the Canadian Criminal Code. Adding femicide as a legal term would highlight the gendered motivations behind these killings. This would provide a foundation for collecting accurate data and ensuring focused interventions.

Mandate training for health professionals, judges and law enforcement on recognizing intimate partner violence and the warning signs that can lead to femicide.

Integrated models like the Safe Centre consistently demonstrate their effectiveness and impact. For this model to expand and remain sustainable, it needs dedicated funding, specifically for these cross-sectoral service systems. This is essential.

Thank you for the opportunity to share the work of the Safe Centre of Peel and for your commitment to address gender-based violence.

I'll be happy to take questions later.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you, kindly.

Next, I would like to welcome, from Women's Shelters Canada, Anuradha Dugal, executive director.

[Anuradha Dugal, Executive Director, Women's Shelters Canada]

Good morning, Madam Chair, committee members and fellow witnesses.

I'm joining you today.... Temporarily, I'm in the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples in what is now known as Vancouver.

Women's Shelters Canada is a national organization with a membership of 16 provincial and territorial associations. We run a national searchable website to help anyone in Canada to find a shelter near them, called sheltersafe.ca, and we are connected to over 600 violence against women—VAW—women's shelters that support survivors. We support these shelters.

Femicide is on the rise. We now commonly say that one woman is killed in Canada every other day and that one woman is killed by a male partner once a week. On Thursday last week, as we've already heard, a victim named Brkti Berhe was stabbed to death in front of her two children at a park in Ottawa.

We need danger assessments for every woman. Every woman connected to a service should undergo a danger assessment. Shelters frequently see this danger. They recognize the level of risk and act accordingly. In some cases, these are misunderstood or ignored by other social services, so then a woman is not adequately protected.

Some of the signs we've heard about today—which include damage to property; harm to companion animals; and verbal, physical or psychological abuse that includes coercive control—are also red flags. It is true that there will not always be physical violence, but strangulation or choking is a factor, as is the presence of firearms. These are all considered within a danger assessment, but they are not always recognized as a threat of femicide by all services.

There is a clear link between femicide and IPV, intimate partner violence. The vast majority of perpetrators are men, and with these known risk factors we also know that there is an increased level of danger when a victim decides to leave. The most serious IPV cases should be reviewed by a collaborative group of services with a wraparound protocol, including health services, children's services, law enforcement, shelters, education and all social services, with a view always to protecting women and their families.

Women are not believed, and sometimes women's services are not believed. Danger assessments can be played down. We need to change this and always believe women. This is what saves lives. We need a funded, robust emergency transition housing system. I recently visited a shelter in a small town in southern Alberta. It receives 1,500 calls a year, but it can only manage to directly house under 350 of those women in a community of around 100,000. This is a huge turn-away number, and there is a point at which this becomes another serious danger with regard to femicide.

As I said, shelters are able to assess danger and safely plan accordingly, but if we do not have enough beds or emergency beds for women, then until the shelter is funded fully as a whole, we cannot support every woman who needs it, where and when she needs it, for as long as she needs it. That is what will keep women safe.

In addition, the housing crisis is impacting femicide. We need safe, affordable housing for every woman. Women are staying longer in emergency shelters because they cannot find safe housing. When they do find it, they are still at risk. I recently heard about a case in which the police had informed a woman in the community that her abuser had found out where she was. She had left that abuser safely, transitioned through a shelter and found private, safe accommodation. She did not want to leave her safe housing, because of the impossibility of finding that again. The risk of losing her home again and again puts her at even greater danger because of the volatile, unreliable and worrying housing system.

We need a stronger system for collecting national data on femicides. We lack clear, definable, consistent, agreed-upon protocols across Canada through all health, legal, policing and social-work jurisdictions. With these data, it would be easier to know how to intervene, what multiple signs to look for and what can be adapted to different communities, because not all femicides happen in exactly the same way.

I've highlighted four key steps: coordinated danger assessments, improved shelter funding, better affordable housing and disaggregated data.

I also encourage you to consider the full recommendations of the Mass Casualty Commission and the national action plan on violence against women and gender-based violence.

We owe it to every woman and to families to do better.

For that, I thank the committee for taking time to study this issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you very much, Ms. Dugal, for your testimony.

At this point, I would also like to acknowledge that Ms. Irons was not able to successfully connect via video conference to finish her testimony, so we will attempt to get her as a witness either Wednesday or at the next meeting. Be mindful of that when we are posing questions.

Indeed, thank you all for your opening remarks.

At this point, I would like to move to our first round of questions.

We will begin with Dominique.

You have six minutes.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning, fellow members.

I would like to welcome each of the witnesses and thank them for being here this morning.

Today we are looking at a really tough topic. This isn't the first time we've talked about these issues at this committee, and the stories that are shared with us shock me every time.

I did a bit of research this morning, and in Quebec alone, 20 femicides have already been reported since January 2024. I don't know about the other women here, but I'm always hypervigilant when I go out. I've often had occasion to say that. I'm not sure men feel the same way. Women don't like to be in a dark place or a parking lot. There are many situations that make us very uncomfortable. Unfortunately, for almost 10 years now, violent crime has been increasing significantly in this country. We'll have a chance to talk about that again.

Ms. Walker, you painted a rather bleak picture. What you're describing verges on depressing.

Is it a pandemic, Ms. Walker? Would you describe the current situation as a pandemic?

[Megan Walker]

I'm sorry. Was the last part, “Would you call this a pandemic?”

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

That's correct.

There have been 20 femicides in Quebec so far, and the year isn't over. Earlier, women gave some rather alarming statistics about Canada. Some of the documents that witnesses have provided and others from various sources even go so far as to call it a pandemic.

Do you agree with that reading of the current situation?

[Megan Walker]

We can call it a pandemic, or an epidemic, as many of the provinces are starting to call this. It is a very serious issue, which, unfortunately, the government has chosen not to address.

Women do not have equal rights in Canada, and that is a tragedy, because women have so much to offer. In many cases, women are killed before they even make it through their teens.

I do present a dire situation. As I said at the outset, this is a crisis. It's something that needs to be addressed immediately.

We, who are survivors around this table, have the solutions. We need to be heard, and action needs to be taken as a result. Some of us have identified the actions that need to be taken, and in fact, many of us have identified the same issues.

For instance, femicide is preventable, but communities don't know how to prevent femicide. They don't know what questions to ask. There needs to be public awareness, because we all have a role to play in ending male violence against women and ending femicide.

It's the same, for me, when we speak about the rights that women do not have. Women don't have the right to walk through their communities safely. As you say, when you get out of your car, you're looking around; that is what all women do.

I really want to reiterate that the most dangerous place for women is in their homes.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Why is the home the most dangerous place?

Is it due to the fact that the home is where women are most often trapped? To be fair, not all husbands and partners are dangerous, of course.

[Megan Walker]

A home is where women are sometimes trapped with their abusers. It's secluded. The community doesn't look into people's homes, so it's very easy for men to abuse women in their homes.

It doesn't take much to trigger an attack. A woman may say, I'm going to the grocery store, and the next thing you know, he's outraged because she didn't ask to go to the grocery store. She told him.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Walker. What you say is very informative.

Earlier, a woman also mentioned the need to set up a communication strategy in the form of a public awareness campaign. As she said, that would be a good idea. It was at this committee that I learned that, when someone has got to the point of strangling their partner, the next step can be killing them. These are things we're not aware of.

Ms. Jeshani, you want the term “femicide” to be included in the Criminal Code. I'd like to know what that involves and how it would improve the Criminal Code.

I don't disagree with you, but I just want to understand how this term could be more useful than the term “murder”, for example. I'm not a lawyer, but I can assume that it means the same thing from a legal standpoint.

I'm curious about your response to that. If you don't have a chance to answer it later, I would ask you to send the information to us in writing.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Shelby Kramp-Neuman]

Thank you, Dominique.

Pam, you have six minutes.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today.

I want to start talking about the impact that femicides have on children and youth. As you probably know, there was just a report that, in the last 18 months, one in five victims are under the age of 18.

As you know, Ms. Walker, from when we worked together on getting Keira's law passed, it's children of women who are abused, but it's also young women themselves.

I see lots of heads nodding. I'm just wondering if the Safe Centre of Peel can start, and then I think I'll go to you, Ms. Walker, if that's okay.

[Shelina Jeshani]

Absolutely.

The impact on children witnessing violence in the home is profound. Children have various impacts, depending on their developmental age and their proximity to the violence. Their mothers are, most times, the main caregivers, and that has an impact on witnessing that type of violence.

The impact of femicide on children is profound. We have children and youth who have lost a parent to the worst form of violence, and usually it's the other parent who has caused that violence to happen.

The ripple effects are profound on their mental health, on their adjustment and on their ability to continue to reach their full potential.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

I'm sorry, but I want to give Ms. Walker an opportunity as well.

It also means that sometimes children are killed as a result of the femicide as well, where the woman who has been abused is killed and the children are killed in the same act.

Did you want to add to that?

[Megan Walker]

I want to outline a story about Breanna Broadfoot, who was in London, Ontario. She was a 17-year-old girl who was trying to leave a man, and he viciously attacked her with a knife through her head and other parts of her body. He killed her, and what was so sad on top of that was the preventable nature of the killing. It was preventable, and that young woman left a brother behind, as well as her mom and dad, who are devastated, as you can imagine.

You cannot bring children back. If they are killed, they are gone, and the criminal justice system continues to fail these women.

In Breanna's case, he had previously assaulted her, putting her into the hospital in that case as well. The police laid appropriate charges, and it went before the courts, but rather than being held, this monster was released back into the community, where he found his way to Breanna and killed her.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

On that, the administration of justice is provincial, and I know that you advocate with the provincial government as well, but the bail conditions are set by largely provincially appointed judges who administer the bail conditions. It's a huge issue, because we hear it time and time again.

I just have about a minute and a half left. This question is for Women's Shelters Canada. You advocated for, and we included in Bill C-21, provisions to ensure that firearms are removed in a prohibition order and in other circumstances.

Could you talk about why that's important?