Bill C-233 passes Second Reading and moves to debate at Committee stage
We are thrilled that Bill-C-233 passed Second Reading on Friday and has been referred to the Status of Women Committee for debate.
As we explained in our previous blog post, a central component of this Bill involves judicial education on the issue of intimate partner violence. This aspect of the Bill honours Keira Kagan, a four-year old girl killed by her father in an apparent murder-suicide in February 2020. Keira’s death came after her mother provided evidence of intimate partner violence by the father in family court and explicitly raised concerns about Keira’s safety.
Luke’s Place is strongly in favour of education on intimate partner violence for all judges across Canada who are tasked with making decisions in family law proceedings. Without this education, there is a real risk that legal decisions will continue to be made that put women and children at risk of harm. Our legal director, Pamela Cross addressed the Standing Committee on the Status of Women on March 25th and highlighted the need for judicial education on intimate partner violence and coercive control through her exchange with MP Pam Damoff. A link to Pamela’s comments on this issue can be found here.
One concern we have about the future of Keira’s Law as it continues through the legislative process is the impact of a recent Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, Chief Justice of Canada and the Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, which recognizes judicial autonomy over federal judges’ education. The MOU was signed on April 28, 2022 and does not appear to be publicly available as of the date of this post. The department of justice describes this MOU as establishing a protocol that “respects judicial independence” (access the DOJ news release here).
What we don’t yet know is the impact of this new protocol on Bill C-233. We are concerned that this very recent focus on promoting judicial autonomy over education is suggestive of a government climate unlikely to want to suggest judicial education on the issue of intimate partner violence. We hope this is not the case and that the government continues to recognize the need for better training and resources on this important issue. Only time will tell. We will monitor the status of Bill C-233 as it continues through the legislative process and hope to make submissions to the Status of Women Committee on the importance of this Bill and ways to make it even stronger.
