Status of Women Committee on April 5th, 2022

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

On that point, the models that rely on hot lines could provide inspiration. That would make it possible to listen to victims, and for them to express themselves. Other countries have followed this type of model. I don't know whether you have observed other measures in place on the ground in the course of your research that could be useful at the prevention stage.

As Professor Simon Lapierre said, coercive control has to be addressed as a behavioural pattern in which a person uses different strategies to deprive the victim of her freedom. In the course of your studies of that behaviour, have you seen models in Quebec that we could use, particularly when it comes to prevention? Do you have any other ideas to present to us?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much. We are actually already over that two-minute slot.

Madame Lessard and Ms. Montminy, if you could send some information to us, that would be fantastic.

I'm now going to turn it over to Leah Gazan for her final two minutes.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you so much, Chair.

My last question is for [Inaudible—Editor].

In my community there are real gaps in support systems for newcomer women experiencing intimate partner violence. I was wondering if you could identify some of the gaps, and how these gaps could be better addressed to ensure there are cultural responses and adequate supports, especially with some of the factors you identified in your testimony.

[Rekha Gadhia]

Sorry, that was for me, right? I just wanted to make sure.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Yes.

[Rekha Gadhia]

Definitely, one of the key things that we have identified is the culturally sensitive support, and in the first language, which is very critical, and working with the systems. We have taken initiatives like doing the culture competency or diversity training with the health system, and we are working hand in hand in a formal partnership with the Calgary police.

That is one of my solid recommendations, that each city should have this kind of model, the “Equally Safe” model. We have the police, indigenous people-serving organizations, immigrant-serving organizations, a seniors shelter, and another shelter. We're all working together, sharing resources.

We offer cultural competency training to the police. We are working with them from the triage stage to really make sure that they are interpreting the cultural nuances right from the get-go, instead of going through their checklist rather than working with us. In that way, we are also able to break the trust issue that a lot of immigrant families have with the police. That is one of the key things that we have been offering: the diversity and culture competency training and support the service—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Leah, your limited time has gone.

There has been great information shared with us today, and I know there have been some requests, so for anyone who would like to send additional information as requested today, I just remind them to send it to the clerk.

On behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank all of the witnesses for their excellent testimony today.

I'm going to suspend the meeting. We'll be back probably in about 30 seconds. We just need to get the new attendees online.

Thank you, witnesses. You may leave the meeting now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I call this meeting back to order.

I'd really like to welcome the second panel for today's discussion on intimate partner violence. We have four groups of panellists today, so we're going to keep our time quite tight, but we'll work together and get through this.

We have with us, as an individual, Peter Jaffe, professor emeritus at Western University. From the Assembly of First Nations, we have Anna Betty Achneepineskum, the Deputy Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and Julie McGregor, director of the justice section. We also have Chantal Tanguay, director of La Gîtée, Sylvie Bernatchez, director of La Jonction pour elle, Shelina Jeshani, director of strategic partnerships and collaboration at the Safe Centre of Peel, and Lisa Hewison, inspector in the crimes against persons section of Peel Regional Police.

I would like to start off our first six minutes and pass the floor over to Professor Peter Jaffe.

Peter, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Dr. Peter Jaffe, Professor Emeritus, Western University, As an Individual]

Thank you, Madam Chair, my neighbour in the Thames Valley.

Members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, thank you for this opportunity to address the committee.

I want to focus on the harm of living with domestic violence for children. They often face death, trauma or a lifetime of emotional problems. Sadly, the risk of harm to children is often overlooked.

My colleague Myrna Dawson at the University of Guelph and I have been involved in a national study of domestic homicide, with the support of 12 other universities, scholars and over 60 community partners from coast to coast to coast in Canada. One finding I wanted to highlight is that, in the last 10 years, there have been 815 domestic homicide victims in Canada. Women are the victims in over 80% of the cases. Men are the perpetrators in 86% of the cases. Domestic violence is a gender-based crime, including the murder of children as an act of revenge on women trying to end an abusive relationship.

Children are killed in the context of domestic violence, from our research, in one in nine cases. Even the children who survive still suffer in the most profound ways. It's estimated that over 800 children have lost both parents during the research time period we described, either to a murder-suicide or their mother was killed and their father incarcerated. Four hundred children were estimated to have witnessed a homicide or the aftermath of a homicide in terms of the crime scene and police emergency response.

When a child or a parent is killed, it's rarely out of the blue. Often there are multiple warning signs known to friends, family, neighbours and co-workers. These warning signs or risk factors may also be seen by the police, social services, mental health professionals, lawyers and judges. These homicides are predictable and preventable. From our Ontario research, over 70% of these cases have seven or more risk factors known prior to the homicide: a recent separation, a history of domestic violence, depression and suicidal ideation in the perpetrator, stalking, escalation of violence, strangulation, threats to harm and a victim's intuitive sense of fear.

One death is one too many. Canadians need to work together to prevent every domestic homicide.

What can we do better? One area I want to focus on is the family court and the need for major reforms to support victims expressing concern about their safety and the safety of their children.

The good news is that there has been a major breakthrough in Canada with amendments to the Divorce Act that now recognize all forms of family violence as a factor that judges need to consider as part of determining children's best interests. The Department of Justice has done a lot to support these changes, including producing an excellent tool kit for lawyers to prepare them to better understand family violence and increase sensitivity in representing these parents.

The legislative reform must be matched by court reform. If we change the laws but fail to update the process, we may not get the real change that victims and their children need. I would hope the Minister of Justice, working together with his provincial and territorial counterparts, as well as the chief justices, can implement some immediate measures.

First, for example, is mandating judicial education programs on family violence to ensure that every judge hearing family law matters has specialized knowledge on the dynamics of family violence and the impact of family violence on children and victim safety.

Second is ensuring that cases are triaged at the outset and assigned to one judge, rather than having the case handled by multiple judges who may overlook growing risk factors of intimate partner violence. I have heard stories repeatedly across the country of parents who appear before multiple judges with multiple opinions, without any kind of focused approach to family violence. We also need a court process that doesn't allow for litigation abuse, in which coercive control in the marriage is now being played out through the family court to drain the victim financially and emotionally. Very few judges recognize these cases and put an end to this abuse happening right in front of them.

We have many thoughtful, sensitive and brilliant judges across the country, but every family violence victim deserves one of these judges and should not have to depend on fate or good luck to find this judge's courtroom. There's no room for error in family violence cases. Judges are making life-and-death decisions, often with limited information and litigants who can't afford proper representation. Access to justice is not just a day in court for a victim of family violence. It's a day with judges and court-related professionals who are educated and well-informed about these issues.

I'll leave my comments there, but I've provided the committee with other material. Hopefully during question period I will refer to my other major recommendation on universal prevention programs built into every school across the country.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you very much. I'm sure we'll be very interested in hearing about that last piece, for sure.

I'm now going to pass it over to the Safe Centre of Peel and Peel Regional Police.

I will let you decide who is going first on this. Shelina or Lisa, you have the floor for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members, for giving me the opportunity to appear as a witness at this very important standing committee.

My name is Shelina Jeshani. I'm the director of strategic partnerships and collaboration. I oversee the Safe Centre of Peel, which is located in the region of Peel in Ontario. I'm privileged to be here representing 16 partner organizations, accompanied by my partner, Peel Regional Police, who will share the time with me today.

I'm not here to share with you the outrageous statistics that we already know regarding the prevalence of IPV in our country. What I want to share with you today is an innovative, evidence-based, best-practice model of how a community can work together to respond and provide a safety net for victims of IPV.

The Safe Centre of Peel is the collaboration of 16 community partners who are providing an integrated, coordinated and wraparound service delivery model for victims of IPV. We have been in operation for over a decade.

In 2008, our community partners began discussions about how we needed to respond to IPV in our community differently. We couldn't continue to work in silos, duplicate services and watch while vulnerable women tried to navigate systems that we had created. This began our journey of consulting with frontline service providers and survivors to understand their experiences, gaps and hopes for a responsive service system.

We consistently heard that victims were being told to repeat their stories over and over. Victims were told they couldn't bring their children with them to these different services. They were left trying to navigate complex systems and sectors. Many of these victims were also managing multiple barriers, such as language needs, immigration, low to no finances, young children and virtually no support system. We know the needs of victims and their children are vast and the system is just too hard and complicated to navigate.

We then looked elsewhere to see what other innovative models existed. We came across the family justice centre model that has been recognized as a best practice by the U.S. Department of Justice and has established centres across the U.S. and in 25 countries.

The Safe Centre of Peel, like the family justice centre models, works on creating a service response that is cross-sectoral. We recognize that collaboration and integration among community services, justice, legal, health and education are vital in being responsive to victims of IPV. Today, we share with you the opportunity to highlight the Safe Centre of Peel as a best practice model that can be showcased as a national model of practice.

We are all aware that we have a problem in our country with the issue of IPV and its impacts on our children and our communities. When we ask victims to go from place to place and repeat their stories over and over again, when they don't have a safe space for the children and we expect them to lead integration and connection between sectors, it is virtually impossible. We need to do something different across our country so we can keep women and children safe. IPV is a complex issue, but the service delivery doesn't need to be.

We urge you to consider the Safe Centre of Peel as a national best practice model that can be implemented across the country. The development and implementation of these models need to be adequately funded to create centres and communities that are reflective of the needs of these communities.

Part of our integration at the Safe Centre of Peel has been to establish our integrated work with our justice partner, Peel Regional Police. I would like to ask Inspector Hewison to provide an overview of this partnership.

Thank you.

[Lisa Hewison, Inspector, Crimes Against Persons, Peel Regional Police]

Thank you, Shelina.

I'd like to thank the committee and the Safe Centre of Peel for including Peel Regional Police in this deputation.

My name is Inspector Lisa Hewison and I lead one of the largest intimate partner violence units in Canada. The communities we serve are not immune to intimate partner and domestic violence. Consistently, our number one call for service is for intimate partner disputes. In 2020, it accounted for 30% of our homicides.

In 2021, we responded to over 16,000 incidents of intimate partner violence and domestic violence. That's 45 incidents every two hours every day. Also in 2021, we laid 393 strangulation charges where survivors were seconds away from being a femicide. That's over one woman being strangled every day in our region.

PRP has identified gaps in services and inconsistencies with the judicial system when it comes to IPV, which often leaves survivors experiencing additional trauma. Many IPV—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Lisa, I hate to cut you off. I know the information you're providing us, which is a little overwhelming, to be honest, on some of this stuff.... We have to get to other witnesses. We will ask for all of that additional information to be tabled, as well, if possible.

I will now turn the floor over to the representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, Anna Betty Achneepineskum, who is the Deputy Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and Julie McGregor, who is the director of the justice sector.

I will pass the floor over to both of you for five minutes. I'll give you the one-minute warning, meaning you need to start wrapping it up, but you'll have five minutes.

Lisa, I'm sure we'll get back to you for some questions. Thank you.

Anna Betty, you have the floor.

[Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Assembly of First Nations]

Watchaye.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, vice-chairs and committee members. My name is Anna Betty Achneepineskum. I am the deputy grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Ontario representative on the Assembly of First Nations women’s council. I am joining you virtually from Niagara Falls, which is on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabe peoples. I am happy to be here today to present on the topic of domestic and intimate partner violence. I am joined by Julie McGregor, who is the director of justice at the Assembly of First Nations.

First of all, in terms of the work that is done by the AFN women's council, it is mandated to provide the AFN executive committee with advice by affirming “the importance of building and strengthening partnerships between men and women [and gender-diverse people] in all levels of decision-making within the AFN, as an integral step in achieving an equitable society.” The AFN women’s council comprises one or more females in leadership positions representing each of the 10 regions. There is one each from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon territory. Each region is responsible for identifying the process for the appointment of their regional representatives.

The AFN supports the “families first” principle in all the work we do on the MMIWG file. We believe it is important that the MMIWG national action plan reflects the voices of those who, for many years, have been advocating for the health and safety of our women. The AFN was a party with standing to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and the AFN women’s council continues to strongly advocate for the implementation of all 231 calls for justice.

Last year, in 2021, the AFN women’s council carried a national engagement process in all 10 AFN regions for the development of the first nations national action plan. The AFN women’s council believes strongly in listening to survivors and families about what is needed to end violence against first nations women, girls and 2-spirit and gender-diverse people. When the chiefs-in-assembly passed resolution 67/2019, giving the AFN women’s council the mandate to coordinate our own engagement process with first nations, the mandate included the directive to ensure that a “families first” principle was used. In carrying out this mandate, we kept survivors and families at the heart of the work throughout the engagement processes.

In the Ontario region alone, the Chiefs of Ontario first nations women’s caucus and the AFN women’s council hosted 26 virtual engagement sessions with families and survivors. These virtual sessions included 10 sessions in southern Ontario, 10 in northern Ontario and six sessions dedicated to the Nishnawbe Aski Nation language groups, with translations in Cree, Oji-Cree and Ojibwa. The northern and southern Ontario sessions also had multiple sessions dedicated specifically to first nations youth and first nations 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples.

After the engagement was done, the Chiefs of Ontario first nations women's caucus hosted the MMIWG family gathering to build on the momentum in the region and formulate a detailed gender-based violence action plan to strategically support first nations in Ontario to prevent violence. It includes human trafficking awareness and prevention initiatives, gender diversity and bias awareness, and men's healing programs.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Deputy Grand Chief, I hate to cut you off, but we have gone quite a bit over time. I know that you have such important words. Hopefully, we will get them in questions or we will be able to receive additional documentation from you.

I will now pass it over, for the next five minutes, to La Gîtée and La Jonction pour elle.

Chantal and Sylvie, I will let you two divide the time. The floor is yours for five minutes.

[Sylvie Bernatchez, Director, La Jonction pour elle inc.]

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee.

Thank you for the invitation to participate in the study of intimate partner violence and family violence in Canada.

My name is Sylvie Bernatchez and I am the director of La Jonction pour elle, a help centre and shelter, and Maison Denise-Ruel, a second-stage house, both located in Lévis. I am accompanied by my colleague Chantal Tanguay, director of La Gîtée, a help centre and shelter, and Maison Louise, a second-stage house located in Thetford Mines in the Chaudière-Appalaches region.

We have chosen to speak to you about the experiences of women and their children living in a situation of spousal violence, about their words, but also about their pain. We spend time with the women in a shelter living environment. We share the same space 24/7. Relationships are formed, discussions take place. Living with women who have experienced similar events of violence and control enables these women to break the isolation. They feel less alone in going through these problems.

We bring women and their children into a safe place that offers listening, support and guidance. So we are in a position to observe the impact of violence on the victims. We talk about fear and guilt and the many losses they have suffered—for example, loss of self-confidence, loss of self-esteem, loss of family or friends, or job loss, not to mention health-related losses involving both physical and psychological health. These women are hurting in every sphere of their lives.

The women come to the shelter to escape from spousal violence temporarily. Often, the violence continues and worsens after the break-up, so the women experience violence again after the separation.

Regaining a decent life for themselves and their children involves constant work. They have to overcome major challenges. First, they have to find a place to move to. That is a challenge in itself when safety and financial capacity are important factors. The dynamic of spousal violence impoverishes women. Often, they are in debt or have lost their job. In fact, the financial aspect is one of the reasons why women hesitate to leave their spouse. It is often the spouse who earns the family's main income, or their own income is not sufficient to meet their family's needs.

Fear sets in and they feel trapped. Often, these women have to take sick leave because of their situation, and this pulls them into a cycle of powerlessness and vulnerability. Not only is it a challenge to find decent housing, but they also have to furnish it, change the children's school, given that they are changing neighbourhoods, arrange transportation, and cover other expenses arising from their situation. Added to that are the challenges relating to child custody in a context of violence that continues after the separation.

Yes, second-stage housing can accommodate nearly 500 women and children a year at the 34 member houses located across the 14 regions of Quebec. Unfortunately, that number is not sufficient to meet all of the demand. These women's need for safety will still exist after their time in a shelter.

The women in our houses need safety but they also need help and support in various spheres of their lives in order to regain power over their lives. In concrete terms, they need support in their efforts to build a new life for themselves and their children. Every sphere of their lives is affected. In their living environments and their help networks, these women run up against people's lack of understanding of the spousal violence they are experiencing. That is why we work together with them and with various resources to identify the consequences of spousal violence on themselves and their children. Training our partners is an essential factor in putting safety nets in place for victims. It provides a common understanding of the problem and the consequences of this scourge for women and their children and we regard this as essential.

Spousal violence is society's problem and all actors have to collaborate to put safety measures in place for victims. We welcome the creation of the Carrefour sécurité en violence conjugale crisis unit in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, which means that victim's safety can take centre stage and spousal homicides can be prevented. Shelters alone cannot keep victims safe. Our partners' contribution is therefore essential.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Excellent, and thank you so much.

We're now going to our first round. Everybody in our first round will be provided six minutes for questions. We're going to turn the floor over to Dominique Vien.

Dominique, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses for their impressive presentations. This provides us with even more information about the scourge of intimate partner violence.

My first question is for Mr. Jaffe.

Your mike got cut off earlier when you were talking about the prevention kit in the schools. Prevention work also has to be done with the young victims of spousal violence. We have to talk to them about it to avoid having it recur later in their lives.

What does the kit that you didn't have time to tell us about earlier consist of?

[Dr. Peter Jaffe]

Thank you very much for that question.

The first thing I should say is that I circulated with the clerk a report we did for WAGE on all the prevention programs we have evaluated across Canada. I recommend you review that report, but the highlights are that we have unique opportunities to intervene with children who live with violence, and also with their peer group.

The one thing I was going to highlight is that we have a universal prevention program that's built into our school system. We call the curriculum “The Fourth R”, which stands for healthy relationships. It's a 21-lesson plan built into grade 9 health and physical education. It's now available in 5,000 schools across North America. It's translated into French and actually into Spanish, as it's used in several U.S. states as well.

It's a program that doesn't require specialists to come to the school. Teachers are trained to deliver the program. It meets every provincial and territorial curriculum expectation about what all students should be learning about healthy relationships. It's been evaluated. In one study we found that, between grade 9 and grade 11, we reduced incidents of domestic violence by 50% simply through students being involved in this program.

Again, there's information in the material I gave to the clerk, but I'd really encourage you to review it.

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

That's perfect.

[Dr. Peter Jaffe]

We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We have the material.

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

You're right. Of course we will look at your proposals.

Thank you very much, Mr. Jaffe.

Hello and welcome, Ms. Bernatchez.

We are familiar with La Jonction pour elle. We are familiar with your impressive work and the work of the other shelters in the area. The shelter you represent accommodates women victims of violence and their children.

You alluded to the economic barriers that prevent women from leaving a violent situation. What do you think the government can do to contribute to removing those barriers?

[Sylvie Bernatchez]

Women tell us that it's difficult for them, economically speaking.

When women come to the shelter, they often have to apply for social assistance. They receive an additional amount while they are at the shelter. We have to provide letters to confirm that these women are being housed with us.

When they leave the shelter to go to an apartment, they have no assistance. They have to find an apartment elsewhere and furnish it, among other things. Since they have no assistance, they often get help with furniture from community resources. The shelters and second-stage houses help them with food.

It would be a good idea to think about the financial assistance the government can provide for these women so they are able to start over.

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

As someone told us last week, it is often women who have to leave their homes. They are the ones who have been assaulted, but they are the ones who have to leave their home and deal with all the problems that creates.

[Sylvie Bernatchez]

That's right. It is a very frustrating situation for these women. They have to leave their home for their own and their children's safety and come to a shelter. After that, it gets very complicated for these women to go back home, even if the apartment or house is in their name.