In June of 2026, two bills seeking to strengthen Canada’s legislative response to gender-based violence – particularly through amendments to the Criminal Code – received Royal Assent, with several provisions set to come into force in the coming weeks.
Bill C-14, the “Bail and Sentencing Reform” Act, seeks to make obtaining bail more difficult while imposing further punitive measures for “serious and repeat offenders”.
Bill C-16, the “Protecting Victims” Act seeks to criminalize coercive control specifically within intimate partner relationships, and acknowledges and recognizes the term femicide – albeit without codifying femicide as a distinct offence, or even a distinct category of murder.
Last year, we partnered with Barbra Schlifer to submit a brief on Bill C-14 to Canada’s Department of Justice, which was endorsed by nearly 40 different organizations. Our joint submission highlighted the risk to survivors that Bill C-14 posed, identifying key concerns including the risk of criminalizing survivors, the use of harmful framings of violence – such as an emphasis on “random” and “unprovoked” incidents, and the narrow definition of “violence offences”.
Aura Freedom also submitted a comprehensive brief on Bill C-16 to the Federal Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. Grounded in an intersectional feminist framework, our analysis drew on academic research, the expertise of partner organizations, and our own experience in survivor support, lived expertise, community-based research, and upstream systems change. Our submission identified key concerns regarding the incorporation of coercive control (which encompasses numerous forms of non-physical and patterned gender-based violence) into legal systems that have traditionally been designed to respond to discrete, incident-based acts of physical harm.
It also emphasized the limited way that femicide was recognized within Bill C-16 – in that, femicide is simply referred to in a marginal note as “…murder – known as femicide when committed against a female person”. Equating femicide with general murder diminishes the gendered dynamics that underpin this form of violence. This limited framing of femicide obscures the distinct patterns, power imbalances, and root causes that shape this violence. By treating femicide as indistinguishable from other forms of murder, wherein the only distinction understood is the sex of the victim, the law risks reinforcing the very systemic inequalities it purports to address, even while invoking the term “femicide”.
In both submissions, we also highlighted the continued reliance on a crime-lens approach , which prioritizes punitive responses after violence has already occurred, rather than meaningfully addressing the structural drivers that shape the conditions in which violence persists. While often framed as “tough on crime,” in practice these approaches are often “tough on survivors,” reinforcing systems that insufficiently respond after harm occurs, rather than preventing it. Further, the ongoing centering of carceral, criminal approaches inherently overlooks the countless survivors who, for a range of reasons (including fear, distrust of the legal system, trauma, stigma, or lack of access to resources) will never report their experiences or voluntarily engage with the criminal justice system. As a result, these survivors remain invisible within the framework of these legislative reforms.
While many of the amendments we recommended were not incorporated before the bills received Royal Assent, we do recognize that some of the accountability measures we called for were included in small but meaningful ways.
Under Bill C-16, a parliamentary review is now required five years after Royal Assent, to both review the new coercive control offence, and consider whether coercive or controlling conduct should also be criminalized in relationships other than intimate partner relationships. Although limited, this review would serve as an opportunity for accountability by requiring Parliament to examine the legislation’s implementation. In our brief, we specifically mentioned that “The absence of meaningful accountability mechanisms will further risks… “, highlighting that “The inclusion of coercive control in the Criminal Code must therefore be…assessed for ongoing accountability.” Further, we specifically identified that “Current inclusions of coercive control are limited to that within intimate partner relationships, thereby excluding other relationships where similar patterns of power and control occur – such as familial, institutional, or human trafficking situations outside of an intimate partner context.” Under Bill C-14, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada must prepare an annual report on the state of judicial interim release in Canada. While these additions represent modest changes, they are important steps toward embedding accountability mechanisms that were absent from the bills as originally introduced.
Overall, the inclusion and incorporation of gender-based violence into legislation represents a hopeful shift toward greater recognition of its scope, severity, and systemic nature. However, it is essential that ongoing legislative and policy developments reflect the lived realities of survivors, including enabling access to justice on their terms, while ensuring they do not inadvertently replicate or exacerbate the harms they seek to address.