Status of Women committee  Thank you very much. I'd like to go back to your first comment: that it's not because there isn't always any violence that it's not dangerous. According to one U.S. statistic, in one third of domestic homicide or attempted domestic homicide cases, there was no history of physical violence.

Status of Women committee  Coercive control is ultimately a continuum of tactics, strategies and manifestations of violence and exploitation designed to terrorize or dominate the victim and deprive her of her rights. As another witness mentioned, there really is an intention to hide behind that. It's often done gradually and surreptitiously by a partner or former partner.

Status of Women committee  We agree with what the other witness said: All actors can help with screening. As previously mentioned, where there's no physical violence, victims aren't necessarily aware that they are victims of domestic violence. If we recognize that coercive behaviour goes beyond physical violence, actors in the legal community, in both family and criminal law, will be able to intervene and inform the victims.

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much for that question. We've actually been working on the project since October 2021, as my colleague mentioned. We're working with an advisory committee consisting of some 30 members in the whole chain of legal stakeholders: police forces, the École nationale de police du Québec, academic researchers, assistance and housing shelter workers, lawyers, the director of criminal and penal prosecutions, prosecutors and correctional services.

Status of Women committee  Last year, we met with stakeholders from England and Scotland to survey the lessons that the criminalization of coercive control has taught. They all agreed there was no going back. A few days from now, we will be starting a new mission to form a clearer picture of the development and handling of controlling and coercive conduct offences.

Justice committee  Of course, women from marginalized communities also experience coercive control. That's what's happening. In our opinion, one of the solutions would really be for them to be part of the conversation, the discussion and the consultations. They must be invited to the table to talk about the problems and fears they may experience.

Justice committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity. In terms of the approach, as I mentioned earlier, we propose removing the notion of “significant impact” from the bill and instead talking about an objective approach, whereby the following question would be asked: Would a reasonable person placed in the same circumstances likely believe that there would be an impact?

Justice committee  Of course, the pandemic was a contributing factor in slowing down the implementation of this legislation. That said, none of the stakeholders we spoke to said they would backtrack on criminalizing coercive control. They said it had brought about a major and essential change in the conversation and helped judicial actors better understand domestic violence.

Justice committee  In fact, not everything becomes coercive control. We're really talking about the presence of behavioural patterns. An investigation would still be done. It's really by looking at the history and the context that we can see if, indeed, there's a repetition or a pattern of behaviour that's ongoing and that built up over time.

Justice committee  There are basically two ways of looking at things. Generally speaking, we can think of examples such as isolation, abuse, surveillance, threatening behaviours, control, monitoring of daily activities, micromanagement of daily life, humiliation or blame. For more concrete and detailed examples, you could consult Australian law in Queensland.

Justice committee  I'd just like to add one thing. Whether it's a case where the parents have a child together or a case where one of the parents has a child from another relationship, for example, the child can be the victim of coercive control. I would even say that the danger to the child's safety increases when we're dealing with a child from another relationship.

Justice committee  Yes, it certainly could. In our opinion, the definition that appears in section 2 of the Criminal Code is really hyper-inclusive. It's a very broad definition. A case law review has been done on this subject. This definition has no time limit, nor does it refer to a couple intending to marry, for example.

Justice committee  Yes, absolutely. There are two levels, one that includes children and loved ones. For children, we propose proceeding by presumption, i.e., establishing that any child who is part of the family relationship is a covictim of controlling and coercive behaviours. The legislator should reflect the fact that, regardless of whether or not they are physically present at the time of the actions or witness them visually or audibly, these children suffer all the consequences, simply by virtue of being in the family relationship.

Justice committee  You raise a very good point. Indeed, it is important to be able to do this. According to the Scottish experience, it turned out that prosecutors and police ultimately found it easier to prove coercive control than isolated incidents of physical violence. Coercive control will often manifest itself in a slightly more legitimized or trivialized way.

Justice committee  Yes, that's exactly it. It also helps preclude cases where victims would be falsely accused. Having spoken to stakeholders in England and Scotland, we understand that the fear of false accusations was one of their concerns, but it has not proved to be well founded in either England or Scotland.