Moved second reading of Bill S-231, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to another Act (interim release and domestic violence recognizance orders).

He said: Honourable senators, I rise today at second reading of Bill S-231, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to another Act with regard to interim release and domestic violence recognizance orders.

I want to begin my speech by honouring the memories of the 10 women tragically murdered in a context of domestic violence in recent weeks in Quebec.

Her name was Elisapee Angma, and she was killed on February 5, in Kuujjuaq.

Her name was Marly Edouard, and she was killed on February 21, in Laval.

Her name was Nancy Roy, and she was killed on February 23, in St-Hyacinthe.

Their names were Sylvie Bisson and Myriam Dallaire, and they were killed on March 1, in Sainte-Sophie.

Her name was Carolyne Labonté, and she was killed on March 18, in Notre-Dame-des-Monts.

Her name was Nadège Jolicœur, and she was killed on March 19, in St-Léonard.

Her name was Rebekah Harry, and she was killed on March 23, in Montreal.

Her name was Kataluk Paningayak-Naluiyuk, and she was killed on March 25, in Ivujivik.

Her name was Dyann Serafica-Donaire, and she was killed on April 16, in Mercier.

In 2020, 160 women were murdered in Canada, 60% of whom were killed by an intimate partner.

Honourable senators, it is therefore with strong emotions and a sense of hope for all victims of spousal and family violence that I stand before you today to speak to you about Bill S-231.

This bill is incredibly important to me, given that I have been fighting tooth and nail for two years now to ensure that it moves forward.

As you know, since the death of my daughter Julie in 2002, I have been deeply committed to fighting violence against women in all its forms.

Unfortunately, according to the available data, crimes against people mainly affect women. When we talk about domestic violence, women are overrepresented. Every year, nearly eight out of 10 murder victims in Canada are women.

Over the past two years, I have had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of women around the country from various backgrounds. With pain and dignity, they openly shared with me their stories and testimony about the violence they had to endure for too many years. They shared very emotional testimony that was sometimes hard to listen to and often sickening.

These women survived attempted murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault and psychological violence. These types of things happened repeatedly over the many years their ordeal lasted. These women experienced some very scary moments. Most of them still bear the scars of that violence. During my consultations, most victims clearly indicated that the justice system is not there for them when they have the courage to report their abuser.

Most of them take refuge in shelters or find themselves in precarious situations where getting back to life in society is often very complicated. They’re often left on their own in our obsolete and ineffective justice system, in which they have no confidence. They’re not guaranteed any protection when they step outside their prison of silence. Some of them have paid for it with their lives. I want to take this opportunity today to thank these women, to whom I gave a voice so they could write a bill to help women who are victims of domestic violence.

When I tabled my bill in this chamber on March 30, I held a press conference with two women who were victims of domestic violence. One of them, Diane Tremblay, whom I salute for her courage, appeared before the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. She provided moving testimony. I would like to read an excerpt that describes a situation where her life was threatened. This quote could have come from many other women. She said, and I quote:

My abuser said, “Come with me. I have a surprise for you.” I told him that I wasn’t interested, but he insisted, as usual. . . .

We then took Chemin de la Montagne, in Hull, which leads to a very wooded country road. We went to the end of the road near a golf course. He was trying to confuse me so that I wouldn’t know where we were, but I was looking at everything. He was doing everything he could to make me feel lost and to terrorize me even more.

He ordered me to give him my cell phone, which I did. He said, “You won’t have your cell phone, so your children won’t be able to reach you or bother me, especially not Julien.” We drove around the school to the back, to a large parking lot. He parked the car right next to a wooded area. He took off my glasses and started kissing me. I had no choice but to let him. I knew that if I didn’t do what he wanted, my life would certainly be in even more danger. This feeling is very strong.

Unfortunately for me, I was raped again. My crying and my screaming were stifled by fear and shame.

This event that Ms. Tremblay described in her testimony was just one of the many she experienced over the course of four long years between 2003 and 2007, during which she experienced a number of sexual assaults and murder attempts, most often in front of her two children. What struck me most in her story was that in those four years, Ms. Tremblay reported several instances to the police but was not protected from her dangerous abuser.

I have heard hundreds of stories like this one. Hundreds of stories in which the justice system failed to be there for women who were often risking their lives to reach out for help.

When I had the idea of introducing a bill to combat domestic violence, I gave myself the objective of basing this bill on these women’s testimony. As I have said many times, they were the ones holding my pencil. I listened to them in drafting this legislation. I know how important it is to be heard, as a father of a young woman who was murdered. I know that victims and their loved ones are in the best position to educate the legislator on what needs to be done to effectively amend and improve the existing legislation.

When drafting this bill, I also spoke with several panels of stakeholders, most of them from shelters for abused women. I’d like to highlight the tremendous work done every day by these advocates, who are often victims themselves and who dedicate their lives to these shelters in the hope of saving the women who find themselves in danger and who have no choice but to hide to escape their partner’s violence and save their lives.

Women’s shelters were set up to help women and their children fleeing violence. Unfortunately, these centres often tend to serve as a substitute for the justice system, which is often ineffective when it comes to protecting these women. It isn’t right that a woman who is a victim of domestic violence should have to hide, abandon her home, move with her children, leave her job and leave everything behind to flee her abuser’s violence and protect her life.

I’d like to quote from the brief submitted by Elizabeth Sheehy, professor emeritus of law at the University of Ottawa, when she appeared before the committee in the context of its study of Bill C-75. In it, she said, and I quote:

We see very few convictions for VAW in the criminal courts, for the reasons we are familiar with: women do not report for many good reasons; women’s reports are not properly investigated or pursued; women withdraw from prosecution; men’s excuses and defences prevail.

I want to take a few minutes to provide some statistics that I think are very important in helping you understand how urgent the domestic violence issue is in Canada. In its 2019 report, Statistics Canada painted a rather worrisome picture of the evolution of domestic violence in Canada. Intimate partner violence represented 30% of all police-reported violent crime. It is also important to note that that rate is constantly increasing. Police-reported intimate partner violence increased by 2% compared to the previous year, reaching the highest rate recorded since 2012.

Between 2008 and 2018, in six out of every 10 cases of spousal homicide, police were aware of the abuser’s history of family violence. Of the 10 women murdered in Quebec since the beginning of the pandemic, nine of them had reported incidents of violence to the police. Of the 945 homicides that occurred during that same period in Canada, 747 involved female victims.

If we look only at the category of girls and young women, in other words, girls under 11 and young women between 11 and 24 years of age, violence perpetrated against them is caused by a family member or a spouse 60% of the time. When we talk about homicide of girls and young women, 70% of these homicides are committed by a family member or a spouse. Even worse, in 50% of these spousal homicides, the perpetrators were repeat offenders already convicted by the justice system for similar acts.

According to another report, this one from the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, there were 118 female deaths in 2019, 51% of which were attributed to intimate partner violence.

As you can see, there’s no shortage of statistics to show the extent of this scourge in a country as developed as ours and the ineffectiveness of our justice system in reducing the number of incidents. These violent acts and homicides are on the rise in Canada and are largely related to our justice system’s weak and ineffectual response to the problem. Looking at the statistics on reporting since 2015, 70% of victims of domestic violence have never spoken with the police about their experience. I understand why they’re afraid to do that considering the fact that, in 49% of cases, the harshest sentencing imposed on abusers amounts to probation and less than a third of these sentences result in prison time on the weekends, but often those aren’t served.

Worse yet, 85% of domestic violence cases result in a prison sentence of less than six months. The majority of offenders are released between a sixth and half of their sentence, which means that most offenders are released without getting help or taking part in a support program. Often they leave prison even more dangerous and angrier toward their former partner than they were before.

Often, offenders serving a prison sentence for domestic assault are the hardest cases. Take for example the case of Ms. Tremblay, which is representative of hundreds of women who contributed to drafting this bill. Her abuser, who repeatedly committed aggravated assault and sexual assault, got under two years probation for rapes, attempted murders and aggravated assaults committed over a four-year period.

Let’s take Quebec, for example. Last year, the province reported 16,664 cases of domestic violence charges, compared to 11,549 in 2015. A fairly significant increase is also apparent in the number of complaints, which, since 2015, increased by 45%, despite the fact that only 5% of women report their abuser in Quebec. In 2018-19, according to men’s help networks, 7,450 men displayed violent behaviour against women or family members.

In light of the picture these statistics draw, the Senate of Canada must understand that family violence is a national priority and that the only way to fix it is to think of ways to reform the judicial system in a way that would make it tougher on these criminals who destroy the lives of their spouses and children.

To achieve this, the responsibility falls to us, the legislators, to reform the judicial system because Canadians, especially Canadian women, have given us the power to change the laws in their name, in their interest and for their safety. It is now up to us to act, thanks to this bill that was made for women, by women.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak to the media about this bill many times since it was introduced. The bill seeks to introduce into the Criminal Code new preventive and protective measures that would ensure victims of domestic violence are safe when they decide to file a complaint with the police or the justice system to end the violence they suffer daily. In speaking of domestic violence, the legislator’s approach must be preventive first and foremost.

On this matter, I’d like to quote the opinion of Justice Locke of the Supreme Court of Canada in Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. of Canada:

The power to legislate in relation to criminal law is not restricted, in my opinion, to defining offences and providing penalties for their commission. The power of Parliament extends to legislation designed for the prevention of crime as well as to punishing crime.

My bill amends two sections of the Criminal Code. The first amendment involves the section of measures related to the appearance of an accused before a justice of the peace, more specifically section 501, and section 515 of the Criminal Code on arrest and judicial interim release. I’m also seeking to amend the section on summary convictions, more specifically, section 810 of the Criminal Code on sureties to keep the peace.

To sum up, my bill amends two steps of the legal process. The first is when an accused is on interim release while awaiting trial and the second is when a judge orders that the defendant enter into a recognizance to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of not more than 12 months, in order to protect someone who has reasonable grounds to fear for their safety.

These two steps are at the beginning of the legal process, after a victim files a complaint with police, makes a submission in court or is preparing for a trial. In the majority of the cases of spousal homicide in Quebec in recent weeks, the women had already reported the domestic violence to the authorities. They all died because they were courageous enough to report.

When victims decide to seek justice, they automatically become vulnerable to their spouses. If that spouse is not incarcerated and is on interim release, there is a significantly higher likelihood of the violence escalating and resulting in death.

Furthermore, even if an accused agrees to sign an order or to comply with a justice’s conditions, there is no way to guarantee the victim’s safety. As I’ve often heard, an order is just a piece of paper. We know this because accused individuals so often violate these conditions with impunity.

I’d like to share these words from Éric Boudreault, whose daughter, Daphné Huard-Boudreault, was killed at the age of 18 by her former partner on March 22, 2017. This is from his testimony at the press conference. I quote:

My big girl, Daphné, was killed by her ex-boyfriend. On that tragic day, numerous warning signs should have alerted the authorities. Despite several police officers responding to Daphné’s call for help, despite the fact that the man who would go on to murder my daughter had committed numerous offences, that man left by taxi without even being questioned even though the officers involved knew how aggressive he was. Daphné was worried, so she went to the police station after her shift to explain the situation and get help or at least advice.

Everyone knows how the story ends. Daphné was murdered.

There are several factors that can explain the behaviours of a violent partner that scientific literature could explain better than I. One thing is certain, it’s difficult to predict the behaviour of a violent partner when he’s faced with a spouse who no longer accepts to live with the violence. When a victim decides to report their abuser, many things can go through the head of the violent partner. The loss of control of the situation can cause the accused to decide to assault his or her spouse, despite the existing charges brought against them, because, in the end, a person’s conditions of release are not subject to any monitoring mechanism.

The purpose of my bill is to be proactive, to save as many lives as possible. Its sole objective is to prevent or stop any risk of violence that could lead to death.

Behind closed doors, it is often difficult for police officers to assess the urgency of the situation in a home, given the complexity of domestic violence. That’s why it’s necessary to implement a surveillance mechanism adapted to 2021, to provide a credible response to judicial instructions.

In drafting this legislation, I also drew on the expertise and advice of Canadian provinces. I reached out to nine provinces, including those with very high rates of violence. I worked with most of the justice ministers and public safety ministers in those provinces in order to tailor my bill to their realities. I can now count on the support of Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. Representatives of those provinces support this bill because the approach I’m advocating provides them with effective tools to address the scourge of domestic violence, including technical monitoring. I drew on examples of countries like France and Spain that have already adopted the use of electronic monitoring devices for offenders.

I would like to dwell on this crucial point of the bill for a few moments. In my bill, I want to add the option for judges to require offenders to wear an electronic monitoring device at every stage.

Initially, it would be up to the police. When the police arrest a person suspected of committing an offence related to domestic violence, they would have the option of releasing the accused pending the first appearance before a judge. At this stage, the police have the option of issuing a promise to appear with certain conditions. Henceforth, with the amendment of subsection 501(3) of the Criminal Code, the police will be able to include the wearing of an electronic monitoring device in these conditions, if they consider it necessary to protect the victim’s life.

The police are the extension of our judicial system. They must be able to intervene effectively to protect victims from this form of violence in accordance with one of the principles of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, which is the right to protection.

Furthermore, the bill would add the wearing of an electronic monitoring device to the conditions for making an interim release order pending trial, which corresponds to section 515 of the Criminal Code.

When an accused makes their first appearance in court, the judge determines whether the case will go to trial. If the answer is yes and the judge decides to make an interim release order pending the trial, this bill would allow the judge to require the accused to wear an electronic monitoring device as part of the conditions of their release, if the judge determines that the victim’s safety and life are at risk.

Lastly, I want to add the condition of wearing an electronic monitoring device to the new section 810 peace bond proposed in Bill S-231, which I will describe later in my speech. If a person has reasonable grounds to fear for their freedom, a judge may order the defendant to enter into a peace bond to prevent them from approaching the victim, which often happens with homicides committed in Canada. With this bill, the judge could require the peace bond and the wearing of the electronic monitoring device.

Electronic monitoring helps establish a safety perimeter between the victim and the abuser. In the event that the abuser breaks the safety perimeter, the victim and the authorities are immediately alerted. This gives the victim a chance to get to safety and allows authorities to intervene quickly to prevent a tragedy.

Some of you might say that this measure is costly, that it’s not 100% reliable, or that it won’t save everyone. I get that, but would you rather see reports on the news every morning about another murdered woman, or use modern technology to save as many lives as possible? To groups that help abused women and to me, the choice is clear. One life spared is more than enough to justify making someone wear an ankle bracelet. It is an effective and modern way to support the police and help judges make their decisions. Every case is unique. At least an electronic monitoring device allows us to monitor the accused. For their part, victims will feel safer, and, if conditions are violated, that is easy to prove in court.

Spain, for example, began fighting domestic violence in 1997 after a woman was burned alive by her partner. After passing laws in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2004, Spain finally decided to introduce ankle bracelets in 2009. Spain’s policy on this issue is the most advanced and the most practical. The number of lives saved thanks to electronic monitoring is considerable. There were 47 homicides in 2018 compared to 76 in 2008 when monitoring was introduced. Nine hundred women are now equipped with an alarm connected to an ankle bracelet, and there have been three murders in the past two or three years. Those results are conclusive.

I relied on the author Lorea Arenas Garcia, a well-known academic in Spain who has done extensive work on electronic monitoring and who showed us that Spain has an effective national strategy for combatting domestic violence.

The following are some of Ms. Garcia’s observations, and I quote:

There is a widespread perception among police officers and legal experts and within departments that this measure may be an effective tool for combatting violence against women. Public debate on electronic monitoring has focused on its ability to prevent deaths. Practitioners find this tool to be 100% effective, and feminist organizations and some media are calling for even broader use of electronic monitoring tools.

I would like to quote the opinion of Justice Harris of the Superior Court of Ontario in Henry:

 . . . electronic monitoring specifically deters a bailee from breaching bail and committing other offences. The monitoring will provide virtually conclusive evidence of a breach and powerful evidence to prosecute him or her for any offences committed. Presence can be proven by the electronic monitoring equipment. A rational self-interested accused will be aware of these facts.

France’s National Assembly has passed legislation proposed by member Aurélien Pradié, which is similar to the one Spain passed in late 2019 introducing the ankle bracelets. Here is an emotional passage from the speech he gave to the French National Assembly, and I quote:

Each tragedy illustrates the flaws in our legislative arsenal and in the organization of our judicial system.

The flaws are known, but the possible solutions are also known. The lack of budgetary means for prevention and repression is also known.

No politician, government official or legislator can make excuses and claim they are unaware. None of us can say that we need more time to think about solutions. The time has come for strong action. Not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow, but today.

This bill, which we have the honour of presenting to the National Assembly, certainly does not solve everything, but it can respond to the vital urgency, to the appeals of these women, of their loved ones . . . to protect women and keep them safe from being murdered by an intimate partner.

Today we must answer those calls. Everyone here has a collective responsibility.

We, too, have a collective responsibility to act in the face of domestic and family violence, which affects too many women in Canada.

With more women speaking out in recent years, many countries are starting to take note of the severity of this issue. Canada does not fare well. We have a much smaller population than France, yet our rates of domestic violence per capita are similar.

Electronic monitoring is already used in Quebec for reasons other than domestic violence. At the federal level, under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the Correctional Service of Canada may require that an offender wear a monitoring device in order to monitor their compliance with a condition of a temporary absence, work release, parole, statutory release or long-term supervision that restricts their access to a person or a geographical area or requires them to be in a geographical area. These devices are also used by the Canada Border Services Agency for immigration cases in which someone might present a security or flight risk.

Getting back to my bill, one clause amends section 515 of the Criminal Code regarding judicial interim release. At this stage of the judicial process, the judge is not determining whether the individual is guilty or imposing a punishment. The judge is only determining whether the offender must be detained in accordance with section 515(10) of the Criminal Code, either where necessary to ensure the offender’s attendance in court, to protect and maintain the safety of the public or to maintain confidence in the administration of justice.

The amendments to section 515 of the Criminal Code would make changes to several important provisions of the law, including the wearing of an electronic monitoring device, which I just mentioned. The first clause would ensure that the victim is consulted, can express their concerns and needs about their safety and security, and has the opportunity to speak to the interim release conditions to be imposed on the accused.

When a judge makes a decision about the conditions to be imposed on someone accused of an offence where violence was used, threatened or attempted against their intimate partner, they must consider the victim’s opinion. The judge must make their decision with all the evidence in their possession. The goal is to put the victim back at the centre of the judicial process and recognize the role they play, in accordance with the right to participate enshrined in the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights. The victim is the first person concerned, so logically, they are the first person who should be consulted about a measure that affects their safety and their life.

I would like to remind senators that it is often already very difficult for victims to report —

Excuse me, Senator Boisvenu. I’m sorry to have to interrupt you, but you will have the opportunity to continue your speech, for the balance of your time, when the sitting resumes.

Honourable senators, it is now six o’clock, and pursuant to rule 3-3(1) and the orders adopted on October 27, 2020, and December 17, 2020, I’m obliged to leave the chair until seven o’clock unless there is leave that the sitting continue. If you wish the sitting to be suspended, please say suspend.

I hear a “suspend.” The sitting is suspended until 7 p.m.

Honourable senators, we seem to have a technical problem at Senator Boisvenu’s end. If you agree, we will move to the next item, and when the issue —

We will suspend for five minutes until we have Senator Boisvenu with us.

We have not resolved the technical issue with Senator Boisvenu. We will move on, and as soon as that issue with Senator Boisvenu is resolved, we will go back to him for the remainder of the 10 minutes in his speaking time.