Justice minister suggests new bill could address ‘coercive control’ in relationships

OTTAWA – Justice Minister Sean Fraser says the issue of coercive control in intimate relationships is “front of mind” as he prepares a new justice bill.

MPs on the House of Commons status of women committee called on the federal government Tuesday to criminalize coercive behaviour in relationships, which they said can include things like financial control, punishing pets, or isolating individuals.

Fraser plans to introduce legislation before the end of the year that covers a range of issues, including gender-based violence.

“The feedback of the status of women committee is front of mind for me right now, as is the feedback that we’ve had on the subject of coercive control with a number of experts in the space who have been advocating for change,” Fraser told reporters in Ottawa Wednesday.

“We’re analyzing the final version of the options over the next number of days.”

MPs on the status of women committee say they want a previous bill criminalizing coercive control brought back.

That private member’s bill, tabled by former NDP MP Laurel Collins, would have amended the Criminal Code to create a specific offence. It made it through the House of Commons but not the Senate before this year’s election was called.

Collins’ bill would have defined coercive control as engaging in a pattern of conduct involving the use or attempted or threatened use of violence, “coercing or attempting to coerce the intimate partner to engage in sexual activity or engaging in other conduct that could reasonably be expected to cause the intimate partner to believe that their safety, or the safety of a person known to them, is threatened.”

The MPs on the committee also issued a report Tuesday calling for training for people who interact with victims — such as police and justice system officials — public education and awareness campaigns. They also called on the government to recognize mistreatment of animals as a form of coercive behaviour.

Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu, who sits on the committee, told reporters “coercive control is often part of intimate partner violence, and not always well-recognized by the public, the police and the courts.”

She noted that other countries that have criminalized coercive control have introduced lists of behaviours the law considers coercive.

Gladu said that while she’s not sure a list would be the right approach in Canada, better training is required because “we can’t have a law that the police and the judiciary don’t know how to implement.”

England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Australia have adopted legislation criminalizing coercive behaviour in recent years, the committee report says. It notes the committee heard from witnesses that “the criminalization of coercive control came with challenges such as securing convictions.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025.