National Strategy for the Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence Bill
Twenty-ninth Report of Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee Adopted
November 19, 2024
Moved the adoption of the report.
She said: Honourable senators, I rise to speak on the report from the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on Bill S-249, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for the prevention of intimate partner violence.
Bill S-249 was introduced by the Honourable Senator Fabian Manning on June 8, 2022. It was referred to the Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee on June 1, 2023.
The committee studied the bill over the course of four meetings, during which time it heard from the Honourable Senator Fabian Manning; Georgina McGrath, who describes herself as a survivor of intimate partner violence; officials from Women and Gender Equality Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Indigenous Services Canada and the Department of Justice; and national organizations, service providers and academics.
Based on the testimony received by the Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, several amendments were made to the bill. Overall, the committee’s amendments were intended to address various aspects, including the following: the launch of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence by the Government of Canada in November of 2022; concerns about reporting and other requirements for health professionals, which were listed as consultation points for the national strategy under the first reading version of the bill; and concerns about the French first reading of the bill, which did not use the term “partenaire intime” in connection with intimate partner violence or include a definition of it, despite these being present in the English version of the bill. All the amendments were moved by the bill’s sponsor, the Honourable Senator Manning, and I thank the senator for his collegiality and flexibility as we continued and concluded this study.
Finally, the Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology did not make any observations regarding Bill S-249. The amendments made by the committee are captured in its twenty-ninth report, presented to the Senate on November 7, 2024, and are as follows:
The long title of the bill is replaced with “An Act respecting national action for the prevention of intimate partner violence.” The long title for the first reading version of the bill was “An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for the prevention of intimate partner violence.”
Clause 1 of the bill, which sets out the short title, is amended from “National Strategy for the Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence Act” to “Georgina’s Law.” As indicated previously, Georgina McGrath testified before the committee about her lived experience with intimate partner violence.
Clause 2 of the bill is amended to remove the definitions from the terms “medical practitioner” and “nurse practitioner” in both languages, as these terms are no longer used in the bill following the amendments to clause 3, and to add a definition for the term “partenaire intime” in the French version of the bill. Note that throughout the French version of the bill, amendments have been made to reflect the use of the term “partenaire intime” in connection with intimate partner violence.
Clause 3 of the bill is amended to align the bill with the ongoing implementation of Canada’s National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, thereby avoiding the creation of a duplicative national strategy for the prevention of intimate partner violence.
Among other aspects, this has meant replacing the wording related to “national strategy for the prevention of intimate partner violence” with “the national action to prevent and address intimate partner violence” in this clause and in clause 4, as well as in the long title of the bill.
Notably, rather than conducting consultation toward the development of a national strategy as stipulated under clause 3 of the first reading version of the bill, the minister must now engage annually with a full range of partners in leading national action.
The list of aspects to be discussed between the minister and partners, which is provided under clause 3 of the bill, is also amended to remove points related to the requirements for health professionals to provide patients with information on access to legal assistance and to make a report to the police where they suspect a patient is a victim of intimate partner violence.
Clause 4 of the bill is amended to require the minister to prepare progress reports on action to prevent and address intimate partner violence rather than prepare a report setting out the national strategy, further reflecting the switch from a national strategy to a national action.
Clause 5 of the bill, which required the minister to review the implementation of the national strategy and subsequently prepare a report with conclusions and recommendations, has been deleted.
As I conclude, I want to thank all the witnesses for their participation as well as the committee staff and my colleagues on the committee. This was by no means an easy study, as you can imagine. Nevertheless, I commend the committee on its excellent and timely work. Thank you. Meegwetch.
Thank you, Senator Moodie. Honourable senators, I would like to congratulate Senator Moodie on her new role as Chair of the Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank former chair Senator Omidvar and the deputy chair, Senator Cordy, for all their support and work on the committee in dealing with Bill S-249.
I would like to thank all former and present members of the committee for their work with the bill itself as well as for their words of encouragement and the private discussions we have had in the hallways and the lounge, not only encouraging me but also raising issues of concern to me that gave me room to process and move forward with the bill. I want to thank all the witnesses who appeared before our committee and thank everybody for their sensitivity to at times very personal and intimate issues.
Statistics Canada acknowledges that intimate partner violence is a widespread public health issue. The number one recommendation to the Province of Ontario, on June 28, 2022, following an inquest into the brutal murders of three women in Renfrew County on September 22, 2015, was to “formally declare intimate partner violence as an epidemic.”
While the stats are difficult to hear and unbelievable to understand, they are real. Approximately every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. In 2021, police reported 114,132 victim reports of intimate partner violence. While Indigenous women account for 5% of all women in Canada, sadly, they account for 21% of all women killed by their intimate partner.
On any given night in Canada, 4,600 women and 3,600 children are forced to sleep in emergency shelters as a result of intimate partner violence and other types of violence as well. Sadly, over half — 56% — are turned away due to a lack of space.
One in eight women will experience a brain injury as a result of intimate partner violence.
Intimate partner violence is all about one person having control over another individual. It is built on fear and intimidation. We must come together to do our part to help the victims of this abuse.
Education is a major component of how we deal with intimate partner violence. It needs to start in kindergarten. Hopefully, that will come to pass in the not-too-distant future.
Since I first introduced this bill — not exactly in the wording that it’s in today — in this chamber in April 2018, in excess of 1,000 women have been killed by their intimate partner in Canada.
This has been a very educational journey for me. I have learned much. I have learned that there are many aspects of intimate partner violence that I was not aware of. I met with representatives of Minister Ien’s department. I met with 134 women across the country, mostly in Newfoundland and Labrador. I’ve held five round tables. I’ve visited shelters in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and there is no doubt, colleagues, in my mind that this is an epidemic in our country.
There are no political lines on this. There is no grey area. This is as black and white as you can see.
When you sit down, in most cases it is with women. There are some men who have been abused, but in most cases, they’re women. When you sit down and listen to women tell their stories, some very privately, it will stand the hair straight up on the back of your head what some people have to live with every single day. It worries me as a father of a daughter. It worries me as a grandfather of a little girl. It worries me as a brother of a sister and on account of nieces and other family members to think that any individual could really set out, plan and destroy a person’s life with intimate partner violence.
I’ve seen and heard stories that I wish we all could hear, but I am fully convinced that everyone in this chamber is aware of somebody who is presently dealing with intimate partner violence or has dealt with it in the past. It’s an epidemic, folks.
Will my bill solve all the issues of intimate partner violence? Very unlikely, but it’s important that the conversation continues. It’s important that we reach out to victims. It’s important that we do our part as legislators to try to at least address this issue in whatever way, shape or form that we can.
I sat down in January of 2017 with Georgina McGrath in the small fishing community of Branch in St. Mary’s Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, when she told me her story. From that, the ball started rolling, and it has been an uphill battle. Certainly, with the legislative process that we’re going through here and things they put on the back burner — I understand the process; I’ve been around now going on 40 years in politics. But every now and again there is a piece of legislation that comes before us that I believe — not because this is my piece of legislation. It’s not. It’s our piece of legislation. It’s on behalf of the women and girls and the victims of intimate partner violence across this country.
I’m very pleased with the committee’s work. I’m very pleased with the ideas and suggestions that were brought to me as the sponsor and the discussions that we had to improve the bill. I’m very pleased that we finally have the report back to the chamber after all these years. I look forward to third reading in short order. Then it has to go over to the other place, and, hopefully, we can find the same support in the other place that I have found here.
I want to thank all my colleagues for their support over the years. I want to thank the committee. I want to thank all the women and girls who have sat with me, talked to me and educated me on this important issue. I want to thank Georgina McGrath for being the spearhead of this piece of legislation.
With that, I ask that you consider, in very short order, giving me third reading on this, and I’ll have the opportunity to speak at third reading again. I want to thank each and every one of you for your support.
Are senators ready for the question?
Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
(Motion agreed to and report adopted.)
Honourable senators, when shall this bill, as amended, be read the third time?
(On motion of Senator Manning, bill, as amended, placed on the Orders of the Day for third reading at the next sitting of the Senate.)
