Justice minister suggests new bill could address ‘coercive control’ in relationships

OTTAWA — Justice Minister Sean Fraser says the issue of coercive control in intimate relationships is “front of mind” as he prepares a new justice bill.

MPs on the House of Commons status of women committee called on the federal government Tuesday to criminalize coercive behaviour in relationships, which they said can include things like financial control, punishing pets, or isolating individuals.

Fraser plans to introduce legislation before the end of the year that covers a range of issues, including gender-based violence.

“The feedback of the status of women committee is front of mind for me right now, as is the feedback that we’ve had on the subject of coercive control with a number of experts in the space who have been advocating for change,” Fraser told reporters in Ottawa Wednesday.

“We’re analyzing the final version of the options over the next number of days.”

MPs on the status of women committee say they want a previous bill criminalizing coercive control brought back.

That private member’s bill, tabled by former NDP MP Laurel Collins, would have amended the Criminal Code to create a specific offence. It made it through the House of Commons but not the Senate before this year’s election was called.

Collins’ bill would have defined coercive control as engaging in a pattern of conduct involving the use or attempted or threatened use of violence, “coercing or attempting to coerce the intimate partner to engage in sexual activity, or engaging in other conduct that could reasonably be expected to cause the intimate partner to believe that their safety, or the safety of a person known to them, is threatened.”

Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu, who sits on the committee, told reporters “coercive control is often part of intimate partner violence, and not always well-recognized by the public, the police and the courts.”

She noted that other countries that have criminalized coercive control have introduced lists of behaviours the law considers coercive.

Gladu said that while she’s not sure a list would be the right approach in Canada, better training is required because “we can’t have a law that the police and the judiciary don’t know how to implement.”

The MPs on the committee also issued a report Tuesday calling for training for people who interact with victims — such as police and justice system officials — public education and awareness campaigns, and services for victims. They also called on the government to recognize mistreatment of animals as a form of coercive behaviour.

The report says that while many witnesses who came before the committee said criminalization would be “an important positive step in addressing the problem,” they cautioned that “without implementing other supporting initiatives, criminal legislation may not have the intended effects in protecting victims, reducing the behaviour and ensuring accountability for perpetrators.”

England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Australia have adopted legislation criminalizing coercive behaviour in recent years, the committee report says.

It says the committee heard from witnesses who said including coercive control in England’s definition of domestic violence raised awareness, and that U.K. research found criminalization improved police response.

But the committee also heard “the criminalization of coercive control came with challenges, such as securing convictions.”

Citing a 2023 report from the United Kingdom, the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking told the committee that only 3.7 per cent of cases resulted in a charge.

It said the lack of physical evidence and a dependence on victim testimony create evidentiary hurdles that are compounded by insufficient judicial training, making coercive control cases “difficult to prosecute.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press