Thank you for the question.
The provisions of this bill currently allow the peace bond to be imposed for a duration of two years in any case where the court finds there's a reasonable fear of domestic violence, or three years if the court makes its determination and the defendant has a prior conviction for domestic violence.
All of the existing more specialized peace bonds in the Criminal Code—such as for terrorism, organized crime, forced marriage, serious personal injury offences and sexual offences against a minor—start at 12 months. Then, each can be extended for up to two years if there's a prior conviction for similar conduct, with the exception of terrorism. Terrorism starts at 12 months, as well, but can be extended up to five years if you have a prior conviction for terrorism.
The policy surrounding the specific peace bond durations was developed while being mindful of the seriousness of the specific conduct being targeted by the peace bond and of the purpose of the peace bond regime, which is to prevent certain types of offending in a minimally impairing way, since no offence has yet been committed in the peace bond regime. It's very distinct from the sentencing regime, where the more serious the conduct, the longer your sentence would be. In the peace bond regime, since there hasn't been an offence committed yet, courts have taken a less restrictive approach.
Basically, the effect of these changes would simply bring the durations of this peace bond in line with all the other peace bonds in the regime, in particular peace bonds targeting equally if not more serious conduct.