Georgina’s Law
Third Reading
February 24, 2026
Moved third reading of Bill S-242, An Act respecting national action for the prevention of intimate partner violence.
He said: Honourable senators, I am pleased today to speak to third reading of Bill S-242, An Act respecting national action for the prevention of intimate partner violence.
This has been quite a journey to arrive here today to once again speak to this bill and hopefully see its passage in the chamber today so we can finally move it over to the House of Commons.
Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Well, I believe this journey has more than a thousand miles on it, but we’re not going to give up.
This process started back in January 2017, when I received a call from a woman who had summoned the courage to try to make a difference and who had become a strong advocate. Through her efforts, she has given a voice to all those abused women who were and still are unable to speak for themselves. That woman was Georgina McGrath, and I am delighted to have her in the gallery here with us today. Gina is accompanied by her husband, Kyran, and her sister Kim.
After our first meeting, we drafted Bill S-249, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for the prevention of domestic violence, whose short title was “National Strategy for the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act.” It was introduced in the Senate for first reading on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. Second reading began on May 31, 2018, and concluded on November 29 of that year, when it was referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
The legislative initiative by myself died on the Order Paper during the First Session of the Forty-second Parliament. While there have been other legislative initiatives regarding intimate partner violence over the years, most of these had sought to amend the Criminal Code, which this bill does not do.
On June 8, 2022, I introduced Bill S-249, An Act respecting national action for the prevention of intimate partner violence. If enacted, Bill S-249 would provide the development of a national strategy for the prevention of intimate partner violence. The title was changed from “An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for the prevention of domestic violence.”
Second reading was completed on June 1, 2023. Consideration in committee was completed on November 7, 2024, where Georgina testified along with many other witnesses. The bill did receive some amendments at that time. Report stage was completed on November 18, 2024, and third reading was completed on November 26, 2024, when it passed in the Senate of Canada. Due to the election, the bill did not make it to the House of Commons and, once again, died on the Order Paper.
On Tuesday, December 2, 2025, Bill S-249 was again reintroduced but under the number Bill S-242, An Act respecting national action for the prevention of intimate partner violence, with the short title of “Georgina’s Law.” First reading was completed on that day, second reading was completed on December 11, 2025, and, hopefully, third reading will be reached here today.
It has been over nine years, many meetings, telephone conversations, Zoom calls, round tables, one-on-one meetings. I’d like to express a few thank yous, if I could, here today for taking the time. Once again, I want to thank Georgina for all her advocacy and her patience with this bill.
I want to thank all my colleagues present today and colleagues who have retired from this place who have supported this bill since the beginning and have always stood with me.
I want to thank all the victims of intimate partner violence and their families we have met with, talked to, conversed with and heard their stories.
I want to thank the members of the Social Affairs Committee for second reading and for taking the time and the patience and for giving the time to the people who presented before them.
I want to thank the members of the media whom we have talked to over the years and who have pushed the bill and certainly supported it in every way.
I want to thank the local RCMP, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and all others involved in the justice system.
I want to thank the advocates and the organizations that are out there to help and to assist victims of intimate partner violence.
I want to thank the political leaders and the members of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador who have always been supportive and have issued a joint statement of support for our bill, which I will read in a few moments.
I want to take a moment, if I could, to especially thank the former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and the present Leader of the Official Opposition of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. John Hogan, who has been an advocate and supporter from day one. I am delighted that Mr. Hogan could join us in the gallery today.
I want to read the joint letter from the members of the House of Assembly.
Dear members of the Senate and the House of Commons, The Honourable Helen Conway-Ottenheimer, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Minister of Justice and Public Safety, on behalf of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, together with the Honourable John Hogan, Leader of the Official Opposition, and Jim Dinn, leader of the third party, the New Democratic Party, are pleased to provide this joint statement of support for Bill S-242, An Act respecting national action for the prevention of intimate partner violence.
Intimate partner violence is a leading, pervasive and serious threat to individuals and communities across our province and our country. The number of victims, particularly women, is alarming and underscores the need for targeted and sustained action.
The impacts of intimate partner violence are profound and far-reaching, affecting not only those who experience violence directly but also their families and loved ones and society at large.
Today, all three political parties in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador stand together in support of the Honourable Senator Fabian Manning and intimate partner violence survivor Georgina McGrath in their ongoing effort to see Bill S-242 passed into law.
As legislatures at various levels of government, we recognize the importance of collaboration. Regardless of political affiliation, we must work collectively to prevent intimate partner violence and strengthen our response to it. This is precisely what Bill S-242 seeks to achieve.
The bill calls for increased national engagement and collaboration, enhanced reporting and transparency and strengthened public awareness of intimate partner violence in Canada.
We extend our sincere appreciation to the Honourable Senator Fabian Manning and Georgina McGrath for their unwavering dedication to this work. For nearly a decade, they have advocated for this legislation, demonstrating a steadfast commitment to supporting victims and survivors. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed and will make a meaningful difference in the lives of those experiencing violence in Newfoundland and Labrador and across the country.
It’s signed, as I said, by the Honourable Helen Conway-Ottenheimer, Minister of Gender Equality and Minister of Justice and Public Safety; the Honourable John Hogan, Leader of the Official Opposition in Newfoundland and Labrador; and Jim Dinn, Leader of the New Democratic Party in Newfoundland and Labrador. I want to thank them once again for their support.
I want to thank the past and present federal Ministers of Women and Gender Equality. In just the last hour, Georgina and I sat down with the present minister, the Honourable Rechie Valdez, and Parliamentary Secretary Marie-Gabrielle Ménard, who have once again given their unequivocal support to our bill.
I also want to thank every person who has been in any way assisting us in ensuring this bill becomes the law of the land.
No bill, including this one, will take away or erase intimate partner violence within this country on its own. This bill will ask and ensure that the minister must continue to lead national action to prevent and address intimate partner violence.
Under this bill, the minister must meet with other federal ministers and provincial ministers responsible for women’s issues each year. The minister must also meet regularly with Indigenous partners, victims, survivors and other community stakeholders, such as service providers, advocates and experts.
These talks must cover how well current programs work, partnerships, costs and any issues regarding the roles of different governments. Within two years, and then every two years after that, the minister must report progress to both the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada and post that report online within 30 days.
More transparency through public progress reports is what we’re asking for in this bill.
The passage of Bill S-242 will ensure regular engagement with our Indigenous communities, which will help align government services with each community’s needs.
The Canadian statistics are staggering. Every 48 hours, a woman is killed in Canada by her intimate partner. Since COVID-19, police have reported the numbers around intimate partner violence have increased in every province in our country.
As of early February 2026, authorities and advocates in Quebec reported six suspected femicides in the first six weeks of this year, sparking major concerns over the rising crisis of intimate partner violence.
Announced in 2017, Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence has worked toward and enacted deals and commitments in each of the provinces and territories in our country.
At present, this is a program of the federal government. The passage of Bill S-242 will move that government program to a government policy. It would ensure that our efforts to prevent intimate partner violence and provide support for the victims and their families will continue regardless of who is in government in this country.
Through our combined efforts, we believe that we have kept the conversation on intimate partner violence at the forefront of society. We must not change the channel now. We must continue to stand up and speak for those who are unable to speak for themselves. We must stand up and advocate for those who are unable to advocate for themselves; the victims and their families deserve nothing less.
We have an opportunity in this chamber to be a strong voice for so many people across this country. The numbers are staggering. We have an opportunity to put in place a piece of legislation that will not erase intimate partner violence but will provide those experiencing it with an avenue through which they can seek help — to educate them on what opportunities, programs, organizations and people are out there to help them deal with the situation they’re in.
Through round tables and individual meetings — and with Georgina by my side 99% of the time — I have met personally with over 200 victims of intimate partner violence in Newfoundland and Labrador, with a population of half a million people. If that doesn’t open your eyes to what is going on, nothing will.
This is an opportunity for us to speak with one collective voice, regardless of political stripe and regardless of our backgrounds. There are people involved and dealing with intimate partner violence in every part of our society. No one is immune to this. We all know someone.
We did not have an open conversation about mental health issues 30 or 40 years ago, and we didn’t talk about the gay community then the way we do today. Today is our day to stand up in the Senate. I have done this several times now, but I’m very confident that today we will see the passage of this bill.
I want to thank every one of you for your support and your interest.
I also want to thank Georgina, because without Georgina’s advocacy from day one, I wouldn’t be standing here today asking for your support. I ask you to give your support to Georgina and all victims of intimate partner violence and their families across this country. They deserve it. We can do it together. Thank you very much.
Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in full support of Bill S-242, An Act respecting national action for the prevention of intimate partner violence, also known as Georgina’s Law, and to advocate for its rapid passage through this chamber without further delay.
I am humbled to make this speech today in Georgina’s presence. Thank you for your courage in bringing attention to this important issue and your patience as we move this bill along.
And thank you, Senator Manning, for your persistence in getting this bill to the finish line.
Intimate partner violence is one of the most pervasive and damaging forms of violence in our country. It cuts across geography, income, culture and age. Yet our responses remain fragmented, inconsistent and, far too often, reactive rather than preventative.
In 2024, Saskatchewan published a police-reported intimate partner violence rate of 714 incidents per 100,000 people — a rate that is double the national average. According to the RCMP, more than one quarter of all violent crime reported in their Saskatchewan jurisdictions was intimate partner violence. Saskatchewan has the unfortunate claim of leading all provinces in rates of intimate partner violence year after year, and I emphasize, often twice the national rate.
As we continue to inadequately address prevention, dedicated partners in this field, like the Central Urban Métis Federation Inc., continue to open new safe sheltering and transitional housing spaces for women fleeing domestic violence.
We thank you and all organizations working in this space for providing these services as they continue to be needed.
The numbers alone should compel action. What should compel us here in the Senate to move quickly is the knowledge that we already understand the problem. We have heard from survivors, and we are thankfully seeing some action being taken in certain jurisdictions throughout the long process that it has taken to get this bill passed.
Bill S-242 helps fill a critical gap in our federal framework. While Bill C-16, the protecting victims act, focuses rightly on enforcement, accountability and protections after crimes have occurred, Bill S-242 focuses on prevention — stopping violence before it begins or escalates.
These two approaches are not in conflict; they are complementary. Bill C-16 responds when the justice system is already engaged, but Bill S-242 asks why we allow harm to occur before an intervention is required. This bill can help to prioritize education, awareness, stigma reduction, early risk identification and increased coordinated action across jurisdictions. If we are serious about reducing intimate partner violence, prevention cannot be an afterthought. It must be a core pillar of our national response.
One of the clearest arguments for Bill S-242 is the patchwork nature of intimate partner violence prevention and intervention across Canada. Within my own province of Saskatchewan, programming varies dramatically. The IPV programs available to individuals who have caused harm differ significantly between Saskatoon and Regina in structure, duration and content. That means accountability, rehabilitation and prevention outcomes can depend more on one’s location than on best practice or evidence. It also makes it hard to measure outcomes without meaningful investment to do so.
I had the opportunity to meet with IPV program staff in Saskatoon, who felt strongly that it is critical to have early education in school-based programs to prevent dating violence. Young people need support in learning about healthy communication in relationships and how to avoid the consequential online harms related to dating.
Investment in preventative education was also mentioned by the Provincial Association of Transition Houses of Saskatchewan, or PATHS, as being fundamental.
Nationally, the inconsistency is even more pronounced. Some provinces have robust prevention strategies and disclosure tools like Clare’s Law; others do not. Some regions invest heavily in education and early intervention; others struggle with limited capacity and funding. Fragmentation of services and programs can undermine effectiveness, confuse service providers and leave victims and those at risk navigating a maze of uneven supports.
Bill S-242 does not impose a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it provides national leadership, coordination and accountability, while respecting provincial jurisdiction. It creates a framework for sharing best practices, identifying gaps and ensuring that prevention is treated as a shared national responsibility rather than an isolated local challenge.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan, which represents domestic violence shelters and counselling centres across the province. They have been clear in their support for this bill and additional measures to reduce IPV, as that has been their focus since their formation in 1984, more than 40 years ago. PATHS states:
Bill S-242 lays out clear steps to ensure action for the prevention of IPV, including annual engagement of the Minister of Women and Gender Equality with other federal ministers and provincial/territorial counterparts, as well as victims and survivors, Indigenous partners and other stakeholders.
Importantly, PATHS highlights that prevention must be informed by those closest to the work:
It is important that IPV professionals, victims and survivors and other stakeholders are consulted regarding current programs and prevention strategies, partnerships and the ongoing and increasing costs of addressing IPV.
We know that proactive, preventative tools can make a real difference. Saskatchewan was the first Canadian province to enact Clare’s Law in 2020, followed by Alberta in 2021, and Newfoundland and Labrador in 2023. Clare’s Law allows individuals to request information about a partner’s history of violence as a “right to ask” and allows police to proactively disclose information when there is a credible risk as a “right to know.”
Despite continuing to have high rates per capita, Saskatchewan’s trend since implementing Clare’s Law has been moving downward. Alberta has seen similar declines. Newfoundland and Labrador has stabilized. All three provinces with Clare’s Law have seen improvement or stabilization. At the same time, national rates of intimate partner violence continue to climb.
While some other provinces have begun work or passed legislation supporting this type of measure, only three provinces have so far implemented legislation.
Dr. Crystal Giesbrecht, the director of research for the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan, said:
I feel strongly that Clare’s Law is an important tool that empowers people who may be at risk of violence from their partner to access information related to safety, leading to more informed decision-making. Clare’s Law is innovative because it is proactive, as opposed to reactive.
She further indicated that many people who make applications would have no other way of knowing they may be at risk without the disclosure process.
That brings me to a key point. This bill has already been studied at committee. Survivors have spoken. Experts have testified. Frontline organizations have shared their evidence. The gaps in our system are known. This chamber has even voted to pass a previous version of this bill. We now need to initiate action.
I want to be clear: Bill S-242 will not eliminate intimate partner violence. I don’t think anyone claims it will. It does not prescribe exact funding amounts or guarantee immediate uniformity across provinces, but it does do something essential. It commits Canada to sustained national leadership on prevention. It ensures that prevention is not optional or dependent on political cycles. It creates space for accountability, coordination and progress.
Honourable colleagues, intimate partner violence is not inevitable. It is preventable. But prevention requires commitment, coordination and courage. And it is a long time coming. I spent a decade working in this space in the 1990s. We have been talking about coordinated and intentional prevention, as well as better support for victims, since before the terrible tragedy of Polytechnique Montréal in 1989.
That targeted gender-based violence occurred around the same time that, at the age of 24, I was assaulted by a partner and subsequently engaged with a legal system that could not hear or support me. Given the odds, it is unlikely that I am the only one in this chamber with a similar experience. Thankfully, I had many friends and family who could support me through this.
What followed was a decade of social work practice, supporting hundreds of women who were physically, sexually or emotionally abused in their relationships. As I provided the best education, emergency support and therapy I could to support hundreds of survivors to find psychological and physical safety and to heal from the wounds of traumatic bonding, I, as a support provider, was threatened, chased with women and children in tow, stalked, intimidated and manipulated by these desperate abusers.
I experienced many near misses along the way. In fact, police will tell you that these situations are among the most dangerous for them to engage in as well.
So, the biggest challenge remains: How do we stop this cycle of IPV, where abusers believe they have a right to authority in a relationship and a right to the services of their partners, whatever they demand, and where the belief systems are so strongly associated with that dominance that they employ whatever coercion is necessary to maintain it?
How do we understand the root cause of this behaviour that is frequently associated with childhood traumatic events for offenders, including exposure to violence in their own families as they grew up and, for some, directly linked to the oppressions of colonization and residential schools? This, too, must be a part of the strategy and will require investment.
Bill S-242 offers us an opportunity to move beyond fragmented responses and toward a more coherent national approach, one that supports those doing the work on the ground and requires meaningful strategies for preventative education. This bill requires national action.
I look forward to receiving Bill C-16, an act that will allow us to meaningfully debate the creation of a new offence that prohibits engagement in a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct toward an intimate partner, behaviour that has devastating psychological ramifications for far too many.
I urge this chamber to pass this bill without further delay and to send a clear message that prevention matters, survivors matter, and delay is no longer acceptable.
Thank you. Meegwetch.Marsee.
Honourable senators, I speak today to Bill S-242, and I want to reiterate my thanks to Senator Manning and Georgina McGrath for their work aimed at addressing the longest-standing and ongoing pandemic in Canada: violence against women.
As we support and pass this bill today, I urge each of us to ask: When will we all commit to ending this violence? When will we stop pretending that proposals for ineffective but ever harsher punishments will protect women as our failures to eradicate deep-seated inequalities seemingly condone violence and misogyny? Indeed, when will some of the wealthiest and most privileged men who are known to have committed misogynist violence and yet continue to exert power with impunity be stopped? When will we meaningfully address the realities and circumstances that contribute to the disturbingly unabating rates of violence against women and seemingly emboldened instances of sexual assault and femicide?
We know that when we do not take care of or intervene to protect women and children, we effectively deputize them. When the state does not respond and act when they call for help, we send the message that it is their responsibility to protect themselves from violence.
This is exponentially true for poor, racialized — especially Indigenous and Black — and disabled women. When they are not able to protect themselves, fault and shame, too often, are heaped on them.
As the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls made abundantly clear, it is those failed by other systems who are most directly deputized to protect themselves by state inaction on their behalf. Yet, when they do act to protect themselves or others in their care, previous state inertia melts into near-immediate reaction, and the full weight of the criminal law is often brought to bear.
Bill C-16 has been proposed as a legislative response to violence against women and intimate partner violence, yet it will not alleviate these concerns. It relies on the same criminal-law-based responses that have not protected women in the past and — horrifically, tragically and predictably — will further entrench current inequities and injustices. In particular, Bill C-16 will entrench mandatory minimum penalties, a punitive approach to sentencing that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada identified as perpetuating mass incarceration of Indigenous Peoples and, in particular, Indigenous women who have survived physical and sexual abuse.
Women who react with force to protect themselves or others too frequently do not have access to legal defences. Instead, they are induced to accept plea deals. Experience informs them that no matter whether they are being victimized in their homes or on the streets or criminalized in courtrooms or prisons, the violence, racism and misogyny that they experience will be downplayed and dismissed, and they will be the ones expected to take responsibility.
I have worked and walked with so many survivors trying to find pathways to the supports and connections that they need to integrate and contribute within their communities. I have watched Canada instead waste hundreds of thousands of dollars per person per year on cages, cells and isolation for victims of violence whom we have failed to support.
It doesn’t have to be this way — so much could be so different. Tona’s story is well known in this chamber. More than a year ago, we voted to pass “Tona’s Law” and sent it to the other place. As Bill S-205 is currently being studied again by the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and will, hopefully, soon be returned to the House in this new Parliament, we hope for a different future for those women as well.
Tona died last week. Her family and friends now hope that her dying wish will be realized and that the types of abuse and isolation that she suffered will end. How did police, when Tona was found sheltering in a school to hide from abuse, end up charging her with breaking and entering instead of offering support and protection to a victim of assault? How did prison staff not realize the impact of strip searches on a survivor of abuse? What other approaches did they try before responding to her resistance with ever more harsh and cruel solitary confinement, until the harms became irreparable, until they became isolation-induced schizophrenia? How did they come to minimize, in her records, the abuse and violence that she lived through? How can we call what happened to Tona anything but layers of injustices and miscarriages of justice?
The conditions that she experienced in prison cost Tona her health and, ultimately, her life. Via “Tona’s Law,” the rights of others could be upheld, and girls and women could have access to community and health supports that she was denied and that would have made all the difference for her.
Nearly all — at least 9 in 10 — women in federal prisons are victims and survivors of physical/sexual abuse. Past so-called tough-on-crime approaches have not kept women safe. Worse yet, they have punished and criminalized those often in most need of support.
As the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls clearly revealed, the same issues and circumstances that give rise to Indigenous women and girls being victimized, disappeared and murdered also render them more likely to be homeless, criminalized and imprisoned.
The government has stated its commitment to addressing intimate partner violence. Bill S-242 is important because it provides the opportunity for strategies that move beyond simplistic criminal-law-based responses to violence against women and offers a possibility for meaningful measures to uphold substantive equality and redress the root causes of misogyny, racism and colonial violence.
At a time when it seems that misogyny has been emboldened in nearly every public space, Shari Graydon, CEO of Informed Perspectives, stresses that one of the best responses is to “ . . . ensure that women’s contributions are equitable, visible and recognized as essential.”
Those changes will not happen without the efforts of each and every one of us, so I want to highlight the importance of the men in this chamber, in the other place and beyond using their platforms and privilege to step up, redouble efforts and model the behaviour needed from our leaders and role models in order to uphold equality for all. Thank you, Senator Manning, for doing just this.
I repeat today the words that I shared in my first speech in this chamber nearly a decade ago, those of Elder Lilla Watson. They were first shared with me by a woman who was in isolation in a segregated unit. She reminded me it was not a request for help but a challenge for me to step up. The words are:
If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.
I repeat today what I urged that day — that we work together with honesty and transparency to bring to light and remedy truths that have long been buried and ignored.
Dear colleagues, it is time for us all to act.
Thank you again, Senator Manning. Thank you again, Georgina. Chi-meegwetch to all of you. Thank you.
Are honourable senators ready for the question?
It was moved by the Honourable Senator Manning, seconded by the Honourable Senator Martin, that the bill be now read a third time.
Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
(Motion agreed to and bill read third time and passed.)
