This past weekend I happened to see a story about the House of Commons status of women committee recent meeting.
Apparently during a meeting about intimate partner violence and how the criminal justice systems treats it, two invited witnesses stopped participating, turned their backs to the committee, and then left the meeting, reportedly in tears.
Cait Alexander and Megan Walker, the two witnesses, personally gave testimony about how many female victims of domestic assault and murder were victimized by men who were out on bail or parole, or free under other conditions set by the courts.
Alexander wasn’t just a victim advocate, in her case, she was also a victim. She recounted where her former husband couldn’t find his car keys and subsequently beat her for four straight hours. “… with his fists, his feet, a wooden rolling pin…. He split my head open in three places, gouged my eyes with his thumbs, kicked my ribs, and tortured me in ways I can feel but I can’t fully describe,” she recounted to the committee.
“And after that, guess what? Your criminal justice system gave me a peace bond. All eight charges … were stayed against my ex….”
After telling her own story, she recounted multiple other cases where the Canadian justice system couldn’t protect women in peril.
At that same hearing, the Deputy Chief of the Peel Police force testified that 29 per cent of homicides in Canada in 2022 were committed by people who were free on some sort of statutory release. He further recounted activities of the previous week, where 18 men had been arrested for car jacking and home invasions in Peel. Fifteen of the suspects were held for bail hearings, and by the time the press conference of the arrests was held nine of them had already been released by the courts.
But back to Alexander and Walker. After their testimony, which was largely ignored, a Liberal MP complained that they weren’t provided an opportunity to call their own witnesses, and defended their government’s criminal justice record. That same Liberal MP then made a motion to have the committee discuss abortion instead, abruptly changing the subject and refusing to acknowledge the information presented by the witnesses. Both Liberal and NDP committee members then voted to pass the motion.
The Liberal MP accused the Conservative committee members – in the meeting and to their faces – of calling Alexander and Walker to testify to bolster the Conservative’ message about the “broken justice system.”
The two witnesses were left feeling used and abused, and their very real concerns were largely ignored because of political games played by Liberal and NDP committee members. Alexander has asked for a public apology for being accused of bolstering the Conservative message, saying she’s non-political.
Imagine the pain of being a victim of Canada’s ‘catch and release’ system for violent criminals, and then being insulted and ignored when trying to tell your story to the very people who need to hear how their laws affect real people.
It’s deplorable that these women had to endure this because politics got in the way of victim’s justice and must-needed change.
Leslie Cholowsky
Editor