Supreme Court of Canada Recognizes Tort of Intimate Partner Violence
Luke’s Place welcomes landmark ruling paving the way for improved access to justice for survivors of intimate partner violence
Luke’s Place today welcomed the Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, which recognizes a new tort of intimate partner violence in Canadian law. This ruling, which centers on the corrosive impact of intimate partner violence on the autonomy, dignity, and equality of survivors, affirms what Luke’s Place and our clients have long known: the pattern of coercive control, manipulation, and abuse that defines family violence causes real and lasting harm deserving of legal recognition and remedy.
The Supreme Court’s majority decision reflects a nuanced and careful understanding of the reality of the harm of intimate partner violence and its pernicious impact on survivors, as well as their worthiness of a meaningful remedy for those harms from the courts. Writing for the majority, Justice Kasirer recognizes that the civil law previously fell short of doing so:
The new tort of intimate partner violence fills a gap in the common law by properly recognizing that conduct objectively resulting in domination and control of an intimate partner is a qualitatively distinct wrong from those wrongs redressable through existing torts. It is the intimate partnership context that enables the abuser to exert control over their victim. [Ahluwalia v Ahluwalia (SCC) at para. 182]
Luke’s Place intervened in this case at both the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada, arguing that the harm experienced by survivors was not being adequately addressed by the legal system and that a distinct tort is essential to providing survivors with meaningful access to justice in court. Today’s decision vindicates that position.
This decision to recognize a new tort of intimate partner violence from Canada’s highest court represents a groundbreaking shift in the law that will benefit survivors across the country. Finally, the survivors we support will have access to a legal tool that truly recognizes the harm they have endured and the pervasive impact of violence within an intimate relationship. — Emily Murray, Acting Executive Director, Luke’s Place
With this landmark decision, the Supreme Court has made a powerful statement to survivors of intimate partner violence that the harm they have survived is wrong and warrants our collective condemnation. The court is telling survivors that the legal system can have a role to play in helping them put their lives back together. — Kirsten Mercer, Mercer Advocates Law PC, Counsel to Luke’s Place
The tort of intimate partner violence, as now recognized by Canada’s highest court, charts a more accessible and inclusive path for survivors to pursue civil damages for the cumulative and devastating harm caused by abuse by their partner or former partner.
Luke’s Place thanks the parties and interveners, their counsel, and all those who have advocated for this recognition alongside us. Luke’s Place is particularly grateful to Kuldeep Ahluwalia, who chose to use her lived experience of violence to fight for better options for all survivors seeking justice in the courts, and all survivors who continue to fight courageously for justice and safety for their families.
We see you, we support you, and today, we celebrate with you.
About Luke’s Place
Luke’s Place is a non-profit legal clinic in Ontario dedicated to supporting women and their children who are navigating the family law system following separation from an abusive partner. Through legal representation, public legal education, research, and law reform, Luke’s Place works to ensure that family courts and the family law system recognize the reality of family violence and protect survivors.
Luke’s Place intervened at the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada in the case, represented by Kirsten Mercer of Mercer Advocates. Acting Executive Director Emily Murray appeared alongside Ms. Mercer as counsel at the Supreme Court of Canada.
CONTACTS
Emily Murray, Acting Executive Director, Luke’s Place, 905-728-0978, x. 240, emilym@lukesplace.com
Kirsten Mercer, counsel to Luke’s Place, Mercer Advocates Law, 647-284-1248, kmercer@merceradvocates.com
For media inquiries, please contact Laura Oliver at laurao@lukesplace.ca or 905-728-0978, ext. 240.
