Professor co-authors submission for Standing Committee on the Status of Women

The Committee is conducting a study on Intimate Partner and Domestic Violence in Canada, which aims to:

• study the causes of intimate partner violence including toxic masculinity, specifically in teen relationships;
• examine ways to improve supports and protection for women and girls who are living in unsafe environments;
• identify ways to eliminate barriers facing women and girls seeking to leave unsafe environments, such as the financial, social and other factors preventing them from leaving;
• explore strategies to prevent intimate partner violence and to educate survivors and perpetrators of violence; and
• consider various international legislative experiences regarding the criminalization of coercive and manipulative behaviours between intimate partners as well as consider the use of other public policy tools to eliminate these behaviours.

Jennifer, along with Janet Mosher and Wanda Wiegers submitted "A Consideration of Laws and Policies Affecting Intimate Partner Violence Across Canada," which urges the Committee to review these laws, policies, and legal systems, and to be guided by a broad notion of access to procedural and substantive justice that encompasses equal protection of the law, equal access to legal rights and remedies, and safety for women and children.

The submission is built on their research on domestic violence and access to justice is funded by SSHRC.