Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thanks so much, everyone, for welcoming me. It's my first time on this committee. I represent the riding of Milton East—Halton Hills South.
My question is for Ms. Fiddes.
I believe you have some background in that area with Halton Women's Place and SAVIS as well. I was at a survivors panel that SAVIS hosted just a few weeks ago. Thank you so much for your work. They're very lucky to have you in Durham region now.
We've heard a lot of folks talking about the criminal justice system in particular. Our previous witnesses did as well. I worked for years as a family law lawyer. At the beginning of my career, a lot of the work I did intersected with what we then commonly called the violence against women sector, which in turn often intersected with the criminal courts.
Previous witnesses commented on how the justice system needs to serve women in order to preserve their safety. Noting that provincial justice systems also play a significant operational role in administering justice, we want to give them the sentencing tools they need to keep women safe. Last year, Canadians elected our government on a platform of criminal justice reform. To keep that promise, our government has introduced bail and sentencing reform legislation as well as Bill C-16, which is the protecting victims act. This creates new offences for coercive control and also recognizes femicide as automatic first-degree murder, among many other things. I presume you've heard about this legislation.
In my legal work, I met women who would ask themselves how they got in that situation. You work with women every day who are probably asking themselves the same thing. They're living lives that they never imagined they'd be in. Often I found that the early steps that brought them to those places were imperceivably small. It usually started with control and manipulation by an intimate partner.
I'd ask you to answer two questions for me from your experience. First, how pervasive is coercive control and financial and social isolation by coercive intimate partners in the women you work with? Second, how do you think the protecting victims act will impact your work and the lives of the women and children you assist?