The reason I bring this up is that we had meetings on coercive control, and one of the witnesses made a statement that shocked me.
Her husband had repeatedly tried to beat her and poison her. When she had him arrested, her father told her—these are her words, not mine—to go and get him released from police, because she was bringing shame to the family. When she said that he would kill her, her father's response was that he'd rather see her carried out in a body bag than shame the family—so there's a culture situation there that we have to address.
Chief Betts, do you feel that “catch and release” is a bad situation for women? In Ontario, of 444 municipalities, 94 have reported an increase in this situation. That amounts to just over 300,000 women. That's 300,000 women. Do you think catch and release is not helping women stay protected?