Evidence of meeting #20 for Status of Women in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Shannon Davis-Ermuth  Senior Counsel and Team Lead, Criminal Law and Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice
Melissa Moor  Counsel, Judicial Affairs Section, Public Law and Legislative Services Sector, Department of Justice
Philippe Méla  Legislative Clerk
Claire Farid  Director and General Counsel, Family and Children’s Law Team, Policy Sector, Department of Justice

1:55 p.m.

Legislative Clerk

Philippe Méla

That's it, yes.

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Excellent.

Okay, so is there any discussion?

What I'm doing with the waiting list is that if anyone has questions, comments, or anything like that....

Leah, over to you.

1:55 p.m.

NDP

Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB

Thank you, Chair.

I do support the amendment and in light of that, I like to withdraw my amendment to the next one because it's reflected in the motion.

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

It is requested that NDP-2 be withdrawn. I don't see that's being a problem, unless everybody is saying, no. Fantastic.

Okay, is there additional conversation on the Liberal motion? Are there any additional questions or comments on this?

Go ahead, Andréanne.

1:55 p.m.

Bloc

Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC

Once again, I think this is consistent with the evidence we've heard here in committee. There was a lot of talk about that during the discussions. For all these reasons, I think we should move forward.

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Absolutely, so I think this is just a simple one there.

Is there any other discussion on this?

Pam, I'm giving you the last words.

1:55 p.m.

Liberal

Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON

Thanks, everybody, for your support on this.

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Fantastic.

Okay. Let me get my rules as to what I need to do next.

We're going to be voting on amendment LIB-3. Shall amendment LIB-3 carry? We're going to start off with a recorded vote, please.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 10; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings] )

Fantastic. Okay, let's keep on winning.

Shall clause 2 carry as amended?

Could we have a recorded vote, please?

(Clause 2 as amended agreed to: yeas 10; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

(On clause 3)

Fantastic.

Ms. Sidhu, I'm going to pass this over to you for amendment LIB-4. Are you passing the floor to Pam, or are you going to...?

1:55 p.m.

Liberal

Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON

Madam Chair, Emmanuella will be speaking on the next two.

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Okay, Emmanuella, I'm passing it to you.

1:55 p.m.

Liberal

Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC

Just to throw you off a little, Madam Chair, in this one, we're actually going to be changing it so that in clause 3, lines four to seven on page two are replaced with the following: “matters related to sexual assault law, intimate partner violence, coercive control in intimate partner and family relationships and social context, which includes systemic racism and systemic discrimination, that were offered in the preceding”.

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

That's excellent. Thank you so much.

Do you have any comment on that, Emmanuella?

1:55 p.m.

Liberal

Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC

It's just a change in the way it is written, but pretty much all of the same things have been captured. It reads better. It's better placed like this. It sounds better.

1:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

So is this the English teacher coming out of you right now? Is this what's happening? The teacher is coming out.

I'm going to pass it over to Shannon to discuss the impacts of this change.

1:55 p.m.

Senior Counsel and Team Lead, Criminal Law and Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice

Shannon Davis-Ermuth

Thank you very much.

I'll ask my colleague Melissa Moor to speak to this one as well.

Go ahead, please.

1:55 p.m.

Counsel, Judicial Affairs Section, Public Law and Legislative Services Sector, Department of Justice

Melissa Moor

Certainly. Thank you.

This motion is in relation to subsection 62.1(1) of the Judges Act, which encourages the CJC to report on certain seminars. Currently the bill would expand that report to include seminars on intimate partner violence and coercive control.

My understanding of this motion is that it would mirror the changes made to another section of the Judges Act in amendment LIB-3. It would change the order in which the topics are referred to. It would read, “sexual assault law” and then it would say, “intimate partner violence and coercive control” rather than adding those two at the end of the clause.

It would also specify, as in amendment LIB-2, that coercive control is “coercive control in intimate partner and family relationships”.

2 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Okay.

Are there any comments, questions or discussion on this?

Go ahead.

2 p.m.

Bloc

Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC

I would just like to say that it is consistent, given the amendments we have just adopted.

2 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Absolutely. It's just really staying in line with or tightening up the language.

Okay. We are going to move on this.

Shall Liberal-4 carry?

Could we have a recorded vote, please?

(Amendment agreed to: 10 yeas; 0 nays)

Shall clause 3 carry as amended?

Could we have a recorded vote, please?

(Clause 3 as amended agreed to: 10 yeas; 0 nays [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We're moving on to Liberal-5, which is for a new clause 4.

Emmanuella, I'll turn the floor over to you.

May 13th, 2022 / 2 p.m.

Liberal

Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC

It is that Bill C-233 be amended by adding, after line 9 on page 2, the following new clause after the title “Coming into Force”: “This Act comes into force on the 30th day after the day on which it receives royal assent.”

2 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

My only comment is this. Is the purpose of this so that we can get it as soon as possible and make sure that everybody is safe? Is that the plan, Emmanuella?

2 p.m.

Liberal

Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC

Of course, that is the plan.

2 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

I'll pass it over to Shannon for some insight.

2 p.m.

Senior Counsel and Team Lead, Criminal Law and Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice

Shannon Davis-Ermuth

If this amendment were not passed, then the bill would come into force, I believe, upon royal assent. Delaying the coming into force of the bill for 30 days gives the provinces and territories some time to familiarize themselves with the law to put anything in place that they need to do to facilitate their operations. It's something that they very much appreciate. Otherwise, the law changes overnight, and the people in the justice system are not necessarily there. It just gives everybody time to inform themselves of their obligations and how best to implement the new laws.

2 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio

Are there any questions or comments?

Go ahead, Andréanne.