‘About time’: Inside Canada’s sweeping new laws to combat femicide

This summer the government of Canada passed legislation touted as one the most consequential reforms of the criminal code to reduce intimate partner violence and femicide and, when I dig into them, I suspect that many other women and men are responding with a mix of “about time,” “I didn’t know that wasn’t illegal before” and “thank goodness, finally.”Below at right is a graphic from the department of justice that shows the changes.The law newly defines the killing of women and girls as first-degree murder in the context of intimate partner violence, coercive control, or misogyny, meaning the homicide is both planned and deliberate with an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Prior to this it could be classified a second-degree murder; a deliberate killing that occurs without planning and the minimum sentence is life in prison with no parole for 10 years. Big difference.The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability defines femicide as “the killing of all women and girls primarily by, but not exclusively, men.” This definition helps track trends and also is broad enough to enable national and international comparisons of data.In 2015, the most recent year for which official data is available, 29% of homicide victims in Canada were female and, while homicide rates are lower for females, “In 2015, close to one half (48%) of all solved homicides involving a female victim were committed by a spouse or other intimate partner. Family members (other than a parent) were perpetrators in 22 percent of female homicides”This continues with a surprising statistic, “The risk of homicide varies by age. Among females in Canada, homicide rates are highest for girls 11 years of age and younger (40.7 per million population).”Children.They are talking about children killed by someone they know. Looking into this further, one in five victims are under eighteen.So again, children.One of the other big changes is to make coercive control illegal. What is coercive control? “It can be things like isolating the victim, cutting them off from social contacts, checking their phone, not allowing them to work, not allowing them to be in contact with family and friends. (It) can include physical violence, sexual violence and coercion, but not always. Economic abuse is very common.”Brenda Ottenbreit, a survivor of domestic violence and an advocate for other survivors, who fought for this change, pointed out, “You may never have a hand violently put on you before, but 80% to 90% of fatalities … it's not always physical before, but there is always coercive control.”The last part of the change is making it illegal to share non-consensual sexual images (already illegal) and adds deep fakes to that. This is an important update for a new era of photoshop and AI.Will these changes in the law actually reduce the murder of women and girls? Making it first degree murder might help, particularly if there are more resources put into finding and prosecuting the murderers. One shameful area is that Canadian Indigenous women are at elevated risk of homicide and many of these murders are not solved, despite the magnitude of the problem:“Homicide rates for Indigenous women and girls were approximately six times higher (48.2 per million population) than rates for non-Indigenous women and girls (8.2 per million population). Other research suggests that Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than any other women in Canada and 16 times more likely than Caucasian women. This over-representation of Indigenous women and girls among homicide victims has been observed across the country, with the highest rates found in the territories and in the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, specifically, it has been estimated that Indigenous women and girls are 19 times more likely than Caucasian women to be murdered or missing.” If the elevation to first-degree murder means that more resources will be allocated to finding and prosecuting perpetrators, this is a very welcome change.Making coercive control illegal is highly promising. First, call me naive but I am surprised that it has been allowed to continue without any legal consequences. Second, I suspect there will be a reduction in suffering of women who can now prosecute these actions as well as hopefully preventing any escalation to murder.All in all, these changes in the criminal code are hopeful if, and only if, they are coupled with resources for enforcement. Essentially, these changes may help find and prosecute whodunnit when women and children are murdered and may even stop them before they dunnit. Here's hoping.Dr. Mary Fernando is a physician in Ottawa. This item originates from her SleuthSayers blog.

‘About time’: Inside Canada’s sweeping new laws to combat femicide

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