Status of Women Committee on Oct. 29th, 2025

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We can try.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

Mr. Deramond, I know you're with us. Can we hear you? Let's do a test.

[Didier Deramond]

Okay.

Can you hear me okay?

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

The test seems conclusive to me, at least. I'm satisfied.

I'd like to come back to the question I asked you a little earlier, during our discussion.

What do you observe about the police force when it receives training on domestic violence?

[Didier Deramond]

Everything depends on prevention— Can you hear me?

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

It's pretty intermittent.

[Didier Deramond]

It's pretty intermittent—

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

It's not working.

Mr. Deramond, please know that I am heartbroken. I would have loved to continue this conversation.

Ms. Riendeau, tell us in a few seconds what the current situation is. You're on the front lines. You are with the Fédération des maisons d'hébergement pour femmes. Women's shelters are very important resources for women who want to leave a violent, traumatic home. You're in Quebec.

What can you tell us?

[Louise Riendeau]

I can tell you that the various associations—we are the Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale—take in only these women and their children.

Right now, there is a glaring lack of services. SOS violence conjugale tells us that, in more than 50% of shelter applications, it is unable to direct women to a resource in their region. This is a problem that we would like to see resolved in the medium term.

However, it takes time to set up shelters and provide services. We would very much like to work with the Government of Quebec, which is responsible for service delivery.

Indeed, since the pandemic, demand has exploded, alongside an increase in police responses to domestic violence incidents. We really have to make sure that the measures we put in place are successful, reach the victims, send a clear message to the perpetrators and also allow society as a whole to form a circle around these families to help them.

[Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, Liberal, Hochelaga—Rosemont-Est, QC]

Woe is me, my time is up. Thank you for being here this afternoon.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I just want to repeat to Mr. Deramond that if there are things you want to say to the committee, please send those comments to the clerk. We would certainly gladly receive them.

We do have enough time for a partial round. Then we have a little bit of housekeeping for the committee to do.

I think Ms. Roberts and Ms. Cody will share their five minutes.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to go back to Mr. Pierre Brochet.

You mentioned that coercive control should be criminalized. I believe that was your statement. I hope I'm correct.

My concern is this. In the previous Parliament, we had a situation in which a mother, with her children, reported abuse to the police. The children also testified against the father.

There was a cultural thing, something that they practised back in their homeland. She was basically cut off from her family. However, her children were able to present evidence to the judge that they felt that they were not safe, and there were medical records from taking the kids and the mother to the hospital, so there was a lot of proof. It took a lot of courage for her to do that.

What was upsetting was that her family obviously stood by her partner, her ex-husband at the time. He got no jail time, but she continuously lived her life in fear.

Would you agree with me that when you have that kind of evidence, the individual should be placed in jail?

[Pierre Brochet]

I can't speak to that specific situation.

However, it's clear that proving coercive control or a criminal offence in court requires a lot of courage on the part of victims, particularly children. In fact, it is somewhat tragic to ask children to testify against their father. It is hard to go through, but we understand that it is a mandatory process in the justice system. That said, I'm not in a position to say whether, in this particular case, the father should have been detained or not.

Your question also concerns immigration. As we know, there is immigration across Canada and, in some countries, the values are not the same as ours, particularly when it comes to relations between men and women. That's why I come back to the fact that, by sending a clear message about coercive control, the legislator is also sending a message about Canadian values. It's important to point that out.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Ms. Cody, go ahead.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

This question is for Madame Mercier-Turgeon.

I saw in a committee that you commented on prosecutors having to work overtime. Can you explain how the current bail system impacts prosecutors' workloads?

[Audrey Mercier-Turgeon, Assistant Director, Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales]

Thank you for your question.

In fact, under the bail system, when you receive an inmate's file, you have to decide whether to conduct a bail hearing or release the accused without a hearing.

A bail hearing requires prosecutors to spend more time working on it. All the work of prosecutors is analyzed based on each person's workload. It doesn't necessarily follow that applying for bail automatically requires overtime. That is not the case; it is assessed based on the workload of the prosecutors.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

My next question is for Madame Riendeau.

You spoke a lot about the training. Would training actually stop someone who has been repeatedly violent, is currently out on bail and intends to attack their intimate partner? Would training actually stop that? Would future planning and training protect a woman from being killed?

[Louise Riendeau]

When I talk about training, I'm specifically talking about training for police officers, prosecutors and all the other people involved.

I think that, if police officers are properly trained, they will be able to identify all aspects, all manifestations of coercive control experienced by a woman. They will be able to better document their cases and provide more information to the prosecutors who will have to plead the cases. In addition, they will have all the evidence to say that, in their opinion, despite the principle of restraint, the person in question should be detained and undergo a bail hearing. This will make it possible to assess all the circumstances and, for a repeat offender, to take tighter measures than usual.

Obviously, if people are not sufficiently trained or, because of the principle of restraint, feel forced to release people with a summons to appear, we are obviously not bringing the repeat offender back before the court or using reverse onus mechanisms. As a result, the victims of these individuals are more at risk. We think that, indeed, the important—

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Thank you, Ms. Riendeau.

Ms. Nguyen, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thank you very much.

I want to start by acknowledging, as somebody who has been an advocate for the work to end gender violence for a long time, that I'm really pleased we are thinking about a public health...an ecosystem approach. There's a role for everybody here: police, the legal system, women's organizations, men and boys. Everybody has to do their part as we try to create safety for communities. That's what I think our response, in terms of Bill C-14, is really emphasizing. It's both stronger laws and stricter bail, as well as investing in prevention and social supports in the community.

As my colleague Madame Ménard was mentioning today, we made an announcement and a strong commitment to the national plan to end gender-based violence, which really will create stability for women's groups over the next number of years. I wanted to have a bit more reflection on what that means for the ecosystem to have reliable, stable funding for prevention work in addressing gender violence in this way.

I'd like to hear from Ms. Riendeau and other witnesses who support the system.

[Louise Riendeau]

Funding allocated to groups working on the ground is essential. It enables us to work directly with victims, do prevention and to contribute to the arguments when it comes to reporting what works in the legislation and what doesn't. Measures like this are essential. We are pleased to see that the funding for Women and Gender Equality Canada will be maintained. It will allow groups to work on the ground.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

If other voices have any other additions to that, that would be helpful.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Mr. Brochet, the floor is yours.

[Pierre Brochet]

Obviously, funding is what enables us to take concrete action on the ground. The stronger the community organizations are, the better equipped we are to prevent domestic violence. Funding is the crux of the matter. We can only welcome it. As I said earlier, community organizations are extremely important in this regard. If, on top of that, the laws in the Criminal Code truly address the real issues facing women in our society, we'll make great strides.