A private member’s bill, informally called Keira’s Law, that would expand judicial education to include seminars on “intimate partner violence and coercive control” was introduced in the House of Commons Feb. 7.
The inspiration for the bill was Keira Kagan, a four-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., who was found dead, along with her father, Feb. 9, 2020, at the base of an escarpment in Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area, in Milton, Ont. Her father, Robin Brown, had said he was taking the child, a kindergarten student at Bialik Hebrew Day School, hiking.
Keira’s mother, Jennifer Kagan, and Brown were involved in a long and bitter legal battle over Keira’s custody and safety. In 2019, Jewish Family and Child Services became involved in the case, following an incident in which police were called to Jennifer Kagan’s home. The same year, a court reduced Brown’s access to Keira.
Ten days before Keira’s death, her mother had asked the judge to suspend Brown’s visits or impose supervised access. The judge,Canadian Pressreported at the time, said that the mother’s motion was “serious” but not urgent because Jewish Family and Child Services was investigating and “had eyes and ears on the ground.” JF&CS was to have reported back to the court on Feb. 20, 2020.
Kagan, a palliative care doctor, has since become an advocate for judicial reform and protection of women and children who are victims of domestic violence.
“Had the judges had the education and training, it certainly would have made a very considerable difference for Keira,” Kagan said in an interview.
The timing of the bill, tabled in the House of Commons exactly two years from the date she last saw her daughter alive, was especially poignant, Kagan said.
“It’s obviously bittersweet, but we feel hopeful with this piece of legislation.
“Our daughter is gone but we’re hopeful it will be one step toward making a difference for women and children in these situations.”
Kagan hopes once the federal legislation is passed, provincial courts will follow suit and introduce similar education for provincially appointed judges.
“We’re hoping this is just a step and a start.”
“My husband and I are looking for other changes around how domestic violence is handled throughout the entire family court system,” she said. “Anyone who deals with women and children needs to have an understanding of these patterns of behaviour, because it is part of a broader picture.”
York Centre MP Ya’ara Saks was one of three Liberal MPs, along with Anju Dhillon and Pam Damoff, who worked on the bill. Not long after she was first elected in 2020, Saks said she was approached by advocates for women’s rights, who shared Keira’s story.
The bill, C-233, would expand judicial education, which already covers topics such as sexual assault law and social context, to include coercive control and domestic violence.
Coercive control can include stalking, isolation, violation of privacy, financial control or gaslighting, Saks said. In many cases, coercive control has been a warning signal of impending intimate partner violence, she said.
“We’ve seen time and again that judges, and in some cases social workers, don’t know how to manage it or know the warning signs of it, so education is critical,” Saks said in an interview with The CJN.
“There’s been a resistance at times to address what exactly is stalking, what exactly is isolation or other forms of coercive control … This is an opportunity to make sure that we all know the warning signs, and that judges know how to implement and effect protections for victims while they’re going through the system.”
Incidents of domestic abuse have increased greatly during COVID, making the bill especially timely, Saks said.
The bill would also amend the Criminal Code to require a justice to consider whether an accused charged with intimate partner violence should wear an electronic monitoring device, before making a release order.
The bill now goes to the Committee on the Status of Women for discussion and debate, Saks said.
