By Canadian Press

Justice minister says Canada remains ‘open’ to criminalizing coercive control

Aug 17, 2023 | 10:25 AM

OTTAWA — Canada’s federal justice minister says gender-based violence is a “epidemic” and Ottawa remains open to criminalizing a pattern of behaviour known as coercive control. 

Arif Virani made the comments in a recent letter to Ontario’s chief coroner, in which he provided the Liberal government’s response to a series of recommendations that came from an inquest into the 2015 slayings of three women. 

Carol Culleton, Nathalie Warmerdam and Anastasia Kuzyk were all murdered that September by Basil Borutski, who was known to all three and had a history of violence against women. 

An inquest into the killings last summer resulted in more than 80 recommendations directed at different levels of government in the hopes of preventing similar homicides. 

One called on Ottawa to create a new offence in the Criminal Code that targets coercive control, which experts on intimate partner violence say is the controlling behaviour that an abuser exerts over a victim. 

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Virani’s letter points to a commitment the government made in response to a 2021 report from a parliamentary committee that explored the possibility of criminalizing controlling behaviour, saying the Liberals are still “open” to creating a new offence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2023. 

The Canadian Press