Sagesse is actually the organization that was advocating, along with survivors, to bring Clare's Law to Alberta. For many years, we were the ones who were delivering the Clare's Law social service network.
Clare's Law is a “right to know and right to ask” piece of legislation. If somebody is in a relationship where they suspect the partner might have a history of domestic abuse, they can make a request to the police to get that information. The way it used to work was that when they would make a request to the police, an application would also come into Sagesse, where we could provide supports and services with the Clare's Law network. If you're already asking, it means you're already concerned, which means you probably shouldn't be waiting for the police to tell you whether it is high, medium or low. Your spidey senses are already going off, and you need the supports and services. There's also the right to know. If the police do know that somebody has a history of domestic abuse that can put somebody at risk, they have the right to inform survivors, or people who were in abusive relationships, that they might be at risk.
Clare's Law is excellent, but the excellent part of Clare's Law is not necessarily the police disclosure. It is the social support network that comes along with that Clare's Law application. Unfortunately, in Alberta there is not now, in the same way that there was, the social support network. It's now going through a different system. In my opinion, no matter what, there needs to be some sort of social support network response to go along with Clare's Law, because it's not just about what the police can tell a survivor. That's actually not the defining factor of what helps a survivor and keep themselves and their children safe.