Aura Freedom was happy to contribute to the study undertaken by the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women for their study Section 810 of Canada’s Criminal Code, which allows someone who fears for their safety to ask the court for a “peace bond”.
A peace bond is a legal order that puts conditions on a person who may pose a risk—before any violence happens. It’s meant to be a preventive tool to help keep survivors safe, but in practice it’s often inconsistently applied and enforced, leaving many women without the protection they need.
Indeed, good legislative reforms can and have historically contributed to advances in protecting women’s rights and safety, particularly when they are designed thoughtfully within a feminist framework, and accompanied by awareness of potential harms. However, our analysis reveals that current peace bond frameworks fall short of their preventive promise due to gaps in recognizing coercive control, inconsistencies in enforcement, and systemic barriers that often leave survivors at risk.
True prevention requires more than carceral measures on paper; it demands a fundamental shift towards survivor-centred accountability, a nuanced understanding of abuse patterns, and long-term, structural reforms. Governments must be willing to move upstream—addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, challenging its normalization in society, and ensuring that legal responses empower and protect survivors rather than inadvertently perpetuating harm. Only through sustained, coordinated, and comprehensive approaches can peace bonds – and the broader justice system – fulfill their potential to prevent violence and save lives.
Summarized Recommendations:
● Recognize and consider coercive control
● Strengthen training, risk assessment, and enforcement
● Remove systemic barriers that endanger survivors
● Shift from punitive & carceral approaches to ones that are survivor-centred & preventative while holding perpetrators to account
● Implement structural reforms that address the root causes of gender-based violence
● Establish accountability mechanisms that ensure legislative and legal reforms effectively prevent and respond to violence, operate as needed by survivors, and do not become tools misused against survivors
Read our full brief and final recommendations below:
