Justice committee  Thank you so much.

Justice committee  If you wouldn't mind, Professor, I'm going to have to leave in about two minutes.

Justice committee  I can't speak for everybody. I can say from my own perspective that I actually...I wouldn't say “liked”, but having a judge listen to what I went through and acknowledge it as serious was very liberating for me, at both the preliminary hearing and the trial. I found it very hel

Justice committee  My concern is that the system the way that is now does what I call back-ending. It saves all the tough penalties in terms of sentencing and reverse onus for the end of the criminal justice system. Frankly, in intimate partner violence cases, a lot of cases don't make it that fa

Justice committee  My concern is about putting the resources up at the front, when the complainant witness is at the most danger and where the provisions we're putting in place—safety provisions for her and for her children—will make the most difference.

Justice committee  Again, evidence and statistics show that women are usually in the most danger when they're separating or when some sort of intervention from any part of the justice system, including family law, is involved in their lives. I would not call it a cooling-off period, but I would thi

Justice committee  I don't presume to speak for the CBA, in any stretch of the imagination, but I think that position is short-sighted. Bail decisions are frequently made by justices of the peace, many of whom don't have legal training. I have seen it play out that bail decisions are not uniformly

Justice committee  I don't think it does. For a lot of the women I interview, even getting them to talk about the offence is a long process. I don't think a lot of them, or the ones I've ever met—I include myself on that list—have thought that far through it. I don't see any evidence of that at all

Justice committee  I think my concern would be that if it's a first offence, there's no history identified. Quite often, police will have history in their data banks, and not necessarily were there criminal charges laid. My view would be that if there is a history in addition to a charge, or no h

Justice committee  Thank you. I thank the committee for the kind invitation I got a mere four days ago. I'm happy to be here and happy to speak about the provisions of Bill C-75 that deal with the justice system's response to intimate partner violence. I'd like to say straight up front that I app