Intimate partner violence is an ongoing epidemic, provincial Justice and Public Safety Minister John Hogan wrote to his federal counterpart in March.“In order to help protect those who have been victimized from further harm, it is time to consider strengthening the judicial interim release provisions of the Criminal Code that deal with intimate partner and domestic violence,” Hogan wrote.
He also asked that IPV and domestic violence be added to the list of reasons an accused can be denied bail. Electronic monitoring would work in a way that emergency protection orders do not, say some – including former provincial justice minister Andrew Parsons when he spoke with reporters following a 2019 announcement that the province was bringing back an electronic monitoring program.
“You defend yourself as a victim. There’s no duty counsel to cross-examine your abuser,” adds Elyse McGrath, chair of the organization’s board of directors.