Brief on Bill C-5, which proposes amendments to the Criminal Code and to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA)

This brief was jointly submitted by the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Luke’s Place, and Women’s Shelters Canada to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic (“the Clinic”) is the only Clinic of its kind in Canada, providing specialized counselling, legal, and interpretation services. The Clinic has extensive expertise representing and serving women and gender-diverse people who have experienced intimate partner and domestic violence. Since 1985, the Clinic has assisted more than 100,000 women who have experienced gender-based violence.

Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre for Women and Children (Luke’s Place) works with women who have been subjected to abuse to support them and their children through the family law process. We provide direct services to women in Durham Region and engage in systemic work such as law reform, advocacy, research, education and training on family violence and family law at the provincial and national levels.

Women’s Shelters Canada is a national organization whose mission is to work as a unified voice for systemic change to end violence against women, while providing leadership for collaboration and knowledge exchange among women’s domestic violence shelters and transition houses across the country. Shelters support women and children fleeing violence.

Our three organizations are uniquely positioned to provide recommendations on Bill C-5 and its impact on women and the violence against women’s movement here in Canada. In what follows, we outline both positives and limitations of the Bill, along with recommendations, to this committee, using an intersectional feminist, trauma-informed approach.