The committee met to study Bill C-225, an act to amend the Criminal Code regarding intimate partner violence. Witnesses included Sabrina Nadeau, Managing Director of À cœur d’homme – Réseau d’aide aux hommes pour une société sans violence; Brian Sauvé, President of the National Police Federation; Raneem Yaseen, Project Lawyer at the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic; Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, President of the National Family and Survivors Circle Inc.; and Louise Riendeau and Karine Barrette, from the Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale.
Sabrina Nadeau supported the bill’s intent but raised concerns that automatically designating intimate partner homicide as first-degree murder could disproportionately burden victims acting in self-defence. She recommended criminalizing coercive control instead, arguing that existing offences are sufficient if aggravating factors are considered, and emphasized the need for rigorous psychosocial follow-up and risk assessments by probation officers or criminologists rather than doctors.
Brian Sauvé expressed support for the bill’s provisions, including extended evidence retention, new intimate partner violence offences, enhanced information sharing, and mandatory judicial risk assessments for high-risk offenders. He stressed that the bill’s success depends on adequate federal, provincial, and territorial resources, particularly in rural and remote areas, and warned against inadvertently penalizing victims who act defensively.
Raneem Yaseen opposed Bill C-225 as drafted, citing data from her clinic showing that survivors are frequently misidentified as primary aggressors or dual-charged. She argued that expanding offences and penalties without survivor-centred safeguards would increase criminalization of racialized, Indigenous, migrant, and low-income survivors. She recommended adding interpretive language requiring context assessment, safeguards against misidentification, and replacing mandatory detention with contextual risk-based assessments.
Hilda Anderson-Pyrz urged the committee to align Bill C-225 with the 231 calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. She recommended an Indigenous-specific safety and impact review, guaranteed funding for prevention measures, trauma-informed and culturally safe risk assessments, and transparent reporting to Parliament. She noted that without these measures, legal reform alone would not prevent violence against Indigenous women and girls.
Louise Riendeau and Karine Barrette supported the bill’s goal of increasing sentences but criticized its focus on isolated incidents rather than patterns of coercive control, which they said could lead to injustices such as charging victims who defend themselves. They preferred Bill C-16’s approach of criminalizing coercive control and treating femicide as first-degree murder only when a pattern of control is present. They supported clauses requiring offenders to appear before a court for release decisions and allowing risk assessments, but stressed the need for training on primary aggressor analysis and coercive control to avoid unintended harm.
The committee heard questions from members about operational impacts, resource needs, and potential amendments. Frank Caputo, the bill’s sponsor, defended its focus on intimate partner violence and noted that it does not create new criminal liability but reclassifies existing offences, while acknowledging the need to avoid criminalizing victims. No procedural debate, motions, or votes occurred during this meeting.
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