Status of Women Committee on Nov. 17th, 2025

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Perfect.

[Jackie Huet]

As a criminologist, I have seen the evolution of the rights of accused persons in Canada in recent years. A lot of work has been done in this regard, and that’s fine. However, I believe that the same work should be done with regard to the rights and freedoms of victims.

I recognize that there is a gap, but we must not diminish the rights and freedoms of accused persons. Instead, we must work to restore the balance.

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

I understand what you are saying, Ms. Huet, and I have great respect for the extraordinary training you provide, but the figures I have here nevertheless show that crimes against women, particularly sexual crimes, are increasing exponentially. Something is not working. It seems to us that there is an imbalance of power.

Earlier, Ms. Gagnon spoke about mandatory minimum sentences and said that the needs of victims should be given greater consideration. We Conservatives believe that deterrence and reporting are important elements of our legal system.

Do you think we should return to mandatory minimum sentences? Bill C‑5abolished some of them, and Bill C‑14 does not propose to reinstate them. There is a lot of talk about ways and means, for example, to accompany the use of section 810. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Shouldn’t we return to mandatory minimum sentences for certain serious crimes against women?

[Jackie Huet]

Sentences must be assessed by judges. What we were saying in our speech is that the judge must not forget the consequences for the victim when making a decision. That is my response.

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

What exactly do you mean?

[Jackie Huet]

I am talking about determining the—

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

Oh, has my speaking time expired, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Yes, unfortunately.

I now give the floor to Ms. Ménard for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning to all of you, witnesses. The depth of your comments demonstrates your great expertise. Today’s panel is all women, and that’s something I like about this hearing.

I will try to address you, Lieutenant Detective Auger. If there are any connection problems, I will address someone else.

In your remarks, you spoke about prevention. You are not the only one to have addressed this issue. I would like to hear your thoughts on the respective roles of community organizations and police forces in preventing domestic violence.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I don't think Madame Auger can respond because her connection is not good enough, but she can certainly submit the response to the clerk.

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

Thank you.

For information purposes, I would have liked to compare Lieutenant Detective Auger’s response to that of the deputy chief.

Nevertheless, I will ask you the same question, Ms. Davis: What role do you assign to the police and community organizations, respectively, in terms of prevention?

[Jennifer Davis]

I think prevention is a priority—probably the biggest priority.

In Waterloo region, we've seen consistent numbers of intimate partner violence. We haven't seen them go down, but we also haven't seen them spiking over the last number of years. I would come back to the fact that, again, we have a hub model already, so whether a victim reports to police first or chooses to report to another agency that's part of our Family Violence Project hub, they have the ability to do that. There are many cases in which, maybe, a victim is not comfortable yet reporting to police, but they know they can go to any other partner and receive those supports, whether it's financial support or what to do if something happens—to set them up with a phone, or resources, or a place to go or housing with women's crisis, etc.

Each partner has a role to play in recognizing where victims are at when they're ready to report, but, again, the commitment we've made over the last number of years is around early intervention, with a focus on prevention. When we're involved with a couple who have had more than two domestic reports—so no charges were laid, but there were calls to the police—that is a flag for us, and an officer and a victim services worker go together to actually meet with both parties to try to determine what the underlying factors are that may be causing them to be reporting to police, and then work on those. That's one thing we're really committed to. In fact, if we could expand it and have more resources.... We know that it is having an impact. We're seeing fewer cases in which we're involved with those individuals who are actually progressing to a stage of charges.

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

Your work is truly remarkable. You have very creative programs to truly align with the needs of victims. You all spoke about the power of training.

What can you tell us about the importance of training, Ms. Davis? If we make changes to the Criminal Code, there will be a period of adjustment. During the implementation phase, these changes may not be effective because those responsible for applying them may not be sufficiently trained.

What can you tell us about this?

[Jennifer Davis]

We're very lucky. We have had a dedicated domestic violence or intimate partner violence team since 2006. They're specially trained investigators; once a patrol officer gets to a point of grounds having been established, they transfer it over to a trained domestic or intimate partner violence investigator to go through the risk assessment, the safety planning and preparing the documents, etc., for court.

They receive training through the Ontario Police College to be certified to investigate. They must be certified to investigate intimate partner violence to actually work in that unit.

Again, I draw your attention back to the “National Framework for Police Intervention in Intimate Partner Coercive Control”. We've held our first conference where we train members of police agencies. This is imperative. We need to do training to actually have our members be able to identify these signs early.

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

I only have 30 seconds left; that’s a bit cruel.

Ms. Mattoo, in light of this information, do you see a discrepancy between Ms. Davis’s testimony, where we sense that training is taken very seriously, and the way survivors perceive their experience with the police?

[Deepa Mattoo]

I really appreciate and I am really impressed with what Ms. Davis has been telling us, but I have to tell you that's not a universal stance of the police services all across the board. That is particularly happening in that region. We see so many gaps on the ground on a daily basis all across Ontario. That's where we work.

One of the biggest pieces that needs to happen for the Victims' Bill of Rights, as we were saying, is that every survivor should have independent legal advice available to them when these situations are unfolding for them, and that does not happen.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Thank you very much.

Okay, now we go to our third round.

We'll start with Ms. Roberts for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to go back to something you stated earlier, Deputy Chief Davis, about the GPS monitoring giving a false sense of security. Can you please let the survivors and families at home know how they're supposed to defend themselves?

The reason I'm asking this question is we've had an individual named Cait Alexander as a witness, who was a survivor of intimate partner violence. She's had to leave the country because she doesn't feel safe.

[Jennifer Davis]

This would bring me back to when I made the statement that I believe GPS ankle monitoring does work in some cases—maybe low-threshold cases, low-risk cases, or where you have a very compliant offender who's willing to abide by the conditions.

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

If I could, I only have limited time. I'm sorry; I don't mean to interject here.

What are the numbers in Waterloo for intimate partner violence? We know nationally it's up 76%.

[Jennifer Davis]

I would need to look it up on my computer to give you the exact numbers.

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

Okay, if you could get that back to the committee, I would appreciate that.

[Jennifer Davis]

For sure.

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

Thank you.

I would like to address my next question to Lieutenant Detective Laio Auger.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Madame Auger is not able to respond because the quality of her connection is not good.