Taking on often-hidden abuses

The federal government is taking a good look at legislation meant to provide protection to people in incredibly delicate and dangerous situations.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser says he plans to introduce legislation by the end of the year covering a myriad of issues, including gender-based violence. But beyond that, he is facing calls to take on the problem of coercive control in intimate partner relationships — an important but difficult problem to solve.

According to self-reported data on the federal government’s website, 44 per cent of women and girls who have been in an intimate partner relationship reported experiencing “some kind of psychological, physical or sexual abuse,” since the age of 15. And while all genders experience intimate partner violence, women were “considerably” more likely to have experienced such violence. Women were found to be four times more likely than men to be afraid of their partner, and women were more likely to have experienced the most severe forms of intimate partner violence.

Not all domestic abuse takes the form of physical or sexual violence, however. Thus, the concern about coercive control, which can include financial control, isolation or even punishing pets.

Members of Parliament’s status of women committee are calling for the return of a private member’s bill, tabled by former NDP MP Laurel Collins, which had previously passed in the House of Commons, but did not clear the Senate prior to last year’s election. That bill aimed to criminalize coercive control, defined as “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.”

Some other countries, including England, Ireland and Australia, have already criminalized coercive control.

The aforementioned private member’s bill includes an extensive list of behaviours which can be considered forms of coercive control, including “controlling or attempting to control any matter related to the intimate partner’s employment or education,” and or, attempts to control “expression of gender, physical appearance, manner of dress, diet, taking of medication or access to health services or to medication.”

It calls for imprisonment of “not more than 10 years” for someone found guilty.

Laws to criminalize abusive behaviours are welcome. However, laws themselves do not keep people safe if enforcement is lacking — or if the offences themselves remain closely guarded secrets.

United Way Alberta Capital Region reports that 70 per cent of domestic violence cases in Canada go unreported — victims silenced by “fear, stigma or simply not knowing where to turn.”

It becomes difficult to help victims who do not come forward about their abuse, but such is the nature of intimate partner violence and coercive control. The point is to isolate and dispirit the victim so they do not seek help, or to even get the victim to blame themselves for what they suffer.

Fear of reprisal by the abusive partner is also very real, with those reprisals easily turning fatal. According to the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative, domestic homicides account for one in five murders in Canada.

The solution to this persistent problem cannot amount only to passing new laws and setting new sentences. Efforts must also be made to ensure that victims of abusive relationships can be kept safe from their partners while their complaints are heard. That will mean strict requirements for keeping partners separated from one another as allegations are investigated, and it will mean swifter-than-usual action by both police and the courts.

Any legislation meant to help victims of intimate partner violence — in any of its forms — must also come with changes to the system in order to ensure justice is swift.