MP Sheehan meets with members of the Jennings and Sweeney families and their supporters in Ottawa to discuss Bill C-332 and combatting intimate partner violence
Sault Ste. Marie MP, Terry Sheehan issued the following statement in the House of Commons today.
This week, I met with members of the Jennings and Sweeney families as well as their supporters here in Ottawa to discuss Bill C-332, which aims to criminalize coercive control in relationships and end intimate partner and gender-based violence. I let them know about our Government’s amendments that are aimed at strengthening this import piece of legislation. I am moved by the strength and resolve of all these people that have experienced such tragedies.
Today, I was proud to vote in support of this bill, which has now passed the House of Commons and moves to the Senate of Canada. I am calling on my honourable colleagues in the upper house to work expeditiously on this legislation.
Thank you to the Jennings and Sweeney families and supporters, and all those who advocate tirelessly to end intimate partner violence.
We will continue to work together to end Intimate Partner Violence. Our government has taken strong steps to address intimate partner violence.
- Budget 2022 committed $539.3M over five years to support provinces and territories in their efforts to implement the recently launched National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
- Budget 2021 provided a significant investment of $601.3M over five years to address gender-based violence, including $30M for crisis hotlines to support the urgent needs of Canadians and prevent the escalation of gender-based violence.
- Since April 2020, the federal government has invested over $259M of emergency COVID-19 funding in 1,400 women’s shelters, sexual assault centers, and other organizations, including 138 organizations that serve Indigenous individuals.
- We passed Bill C-75 in 2019, creating a reverse onus at bail for those charged with a violent offence involving an intimate partner, if the accused had a prior conviction for violence against an intimate partner.
