Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to rise on behalf of petitioners in Simcoe—Grey.
An individual, Erin Small, started a petition that has quite a few signatures on it. The petitioners are very disappointed in the judicial system with respect to intimate partner violence.
They are calling for the implementation of strict conflict of interest rules requiring investigating officers to disclose any personal or professional relationship with either the accused or the victim, with mandatory reassignment where a conflict exists. They also call for reform of mandatory charging policies to prevent survivors from being criminalized when the accused attempts to countercharge the victim. Third, they ask us to ensure that sexual assault charges cannot be resolved through peace bonds, diversion agreements or other non-conviction resolutions without judicial oversight and clear public interest justification.
They also ask that we remove barriers to victim impact statements by allowing survivors to provide statements, regardless of the final judicial outcome. Finally, they are asking for the creation of independent civilian oversight bodies to review investigative failures, wrongful countercharges, mishandled cases and systemic bias within police and prosecutorial systems.