Members of Parliament are renewing calls for Canada to criminalize the concept of coercive control as a way of combating intimate partner violence.
The House committee on the status of women made 16 recommendations to the government, including that it “continue to support efforts to criminalize coercive control” in a report published Tuesday.
“Definitely we’d like to see the criminalization of coercive control,” Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu, the committee’s chair, said at a news conference.
With Liberal, Conservative and Bloc Québécois members on the committee, Gladu said she believed “there is all-party support to move forward.”
What is coercive control and why is it hard to identify and escape?
The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized coercive and controlling behaviour as a form of family violence, the report noted. Several countries have criminalized coercive behaviour in recent years, including England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Australia.
A private member’s bill to criminalize coercive control was adopted in the House last year and considered in the Senate, but died when Parliament was dissolved.
Tuesday’s report concluded that to be effective, criminalizing coercive control would need to be accompanied by training for law enforcement and the justice system, public education and additional services for victims.
“We can’t have a law that the police and judiciary don’t know how to implement,” said Gladu.
While witnesses recommended the criminalization of coercive control, the committee heard that criminalization in other jurisdictions had come with challenges, including difficulty in securing convictions.
As coercive control consists of a pattern of generally cumulative acts committed over a period of time, the concept can be difficult to identify and hard for victims to seek help with through the criminal justice system.
The committee heard that criminalization will not be “a magic wand that will immediately end the epidemic of domestic abuse.”
Gladu said that while other countries had defined coercive control by listing behaviours, the committee did not recommend Canada define it in this fashion.
“I don’t know that we want to have a list because there are always new things coming,” she said.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. If you’re affected by family or intimate partner violence, you can look for help through crisis lines and local support services.
