Landmark ruling recognizes intimate partner violence as its own legal basis

Añadido: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]CTV's Adrian Gobrial on the legal significance and what it means for victims. Adrian.

[00:00:06]Heather lawyers are calling today's Supreme Court of Canada decision the most consequential gender-based violence ruling in decades.

[00:00:16]I found myself in a very bad predicament.

[00:00:19]At 17, Wendy Butler says she thought she'd met her Prince Charming. Though for nearly two decades, she says she was trapped in an abusive relationship. I didn't tell anyone because of shame.

[00:00:30]It took me a long time to leave. What the mother of two says she experienced went beyond physical bruising. The abuse that I endured, it was physical, emotional, and psychological.

[00:00:45]And I lost myself. Today, Canada's highest court ruled in favor of creating a new tort of intimate partner violence. A tort is a legal term for a civil claim that allows a person to seek damages after being harmed.

[00:01:00]The law already gave victims the ability to use to seek redress for physical assault and for sexual assault. This new tort recognizes that intimate partner violence isn't always physical or sexual. Coercion and manipulation, humiliation, isolation. As part of Justice Nicholas Kasirer's 200-page ruling, the case briefing outlines that a victim must show that their partner intentionally engaged in abusive conduct and that the conduct amounted to coercive control when viewed in context.

[00:01:34]Today's a big day. It is a very big day.

[00:01:37]For survivors who can now seek justice after years of being controlled, confined, and psychologically harmed.

[00:01:44]There have been a few, if any, decisions in my 25-year legal career that has been as a consequential to the field of gender-based violence as this one today.

[00:01:55]If there's someone watching right now who's in a violent relationship, what would your message be to them?

[00:02:01]There is hope. There's a chance for new beginnings. In the years and decades ahead, many hope this new legal pathway will drastically decrease intimate partner violence and abuse of all kinds.

[00:02:14]Heather. Adrian, thank you.