An update on criminalizing coercive control

By Luke's Place | April 23, 2024

At Luke’s Place, we support women and their children who have left abuse and are engaged with the family law/court process through both direct service and system change work. Through this work, we have developed a deep understanding of the many ways different legal systems intersect with and affect women’s family law experiences.

We have followed discussions about the criminalization of coercive control with great interest and through the lens of the potential impact of such a move on survivors and their engagement with both criminal and family law.

Our position is that criminalization is not the best approach to respond to abusers who engage in coercively controlling behaviours.

Last year, MP Laurel Collins introduced a private members bill – Bill C-332 – which would criminalize coercive control.

Following that, the Department of Justice, with its provincial and territorial counterparts, held a series of virtual consultations at which stakeholders shared their perspectives on criminalization. Luke’s Place Legal and Advocacy Directors both participated in these consultations.

Bill C-332 passed first and second reading and then moved to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for further study. As part of this process, the Committee held public hearings. Luke’s Place submitted a written brief and our Advocacy Director, Pamela Cross, appeared as a witness to give oral testimony.

Where the Bill is now

Following the public hearings, the Committee met to discuss possible amendments to the Bill. It returned the Bill to the House of Commons with significant revisions, where it will be debated and voted on one last time before moving to the Senate, where the same process will repeat itself. The amendments that the Committee has put forward reflect the input from witnesses at the hearings and considerably strengthen the Bill. That’s good news.

However, Luke’s Place continues to oppose the criminalization of coercive control altogether, and we plan to take that perspective to the Senate if and when the Bill reaches the public hearing stage there.

Please read our full statement regarding the status of Bill C-332