Submissions and Statements
2025 Statements
March 4, 2026
A brief on Bill C-16, An Act to amend certain Acts in relation to criminal and correctional matters (child protection, gender-based violence, delays and other measures)
Bill C-16 provides opportunities to improve criminal legal responses for survivors of gender-based violence, but neither it nor criminal law as a whole will be enough to end the ongoing epidemic. In addition to specific changes to the Criminal Code, we urge a general approach to systemic criminal law reform that prioritizes the opportunity for survivors of gender-based violence to have access to independent legal advice, and ideally, independent legal representation throughout the criminal law process. It is also critical that legislative, policy, and funding responses look beyond criminal law to prevent and meaningfully respond to gender-based violence in Canada.
February 24, 2026
Standing Committee on the Status of Women (FEWO) – Bill C‑225 – Criminal Code Amendments
Bill C‑225 expands criminalization through new IPV‑specific offences with higher penalties, mandatory detention rules, expanded custody for risk assessments, and automatic legal classifications. Our concern is straightforward: The Bill assumes the problem is a lack of criminal law tools.
June 9, 2025
Statement: Bill C-2 Risks Undermining Canada’s Commitments to Gender-Based Violence Survivors
As organizations that work directly with survivors of gender-based violence—including refugee, non-status, and precariously documented women and gender-diverse people—we are deeply concerned about the implications and likely effects of Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act. Introduced on Tuesday, June 3, this legislation threatens to erode the fundamental rights of refugee claimants by undermining due process and restricting access to justice, with especially harsh impacts on survivors of violence.
April 11, 2025
Standing Firm: Focusing the Narrative on Survivors’ Rights and the Long Road to Justice
Gender-based violence (“GBV”) is not just a crisis today; it is an epidemic that has persisted for generations, impacting individuals, families, and communities across the world. According to findings by the Canadian Femicide Observatory, 187 women in Canada were killed in acts of GBV in 2024, a staggering toll that is far more than a statistic. Behind this tragic statistic, there is a name, a life stolen too soon, and loved ones left to grieve an unimaginable loss.
2025 Submissions
December 12, 2025
Observations on Bill C-14
Submitted for consideration to the Department of Justice (Canada)
The Barbra Schlifer Clinic and Aura Freedom are pleased to submit this for consideration in joint feminist advocacy. The Barbra Schlifer Clinic supports women and gender-diverse survivors of gender-based violence through legal, counselling, and advocacy services. Aura Freedom is a feminist, survivor-led organization working in Canada to eradicate gender-based violence and human trafficking through education, research, advocacy, and systemic change.
December 12, 2025
Confronting Antifeminist Ideology
A Brief for the Standing Committee on the Status of Women
Antifeminist attitudes manifest through underrepresentation of women in political institutions, legal resistance to gender equality reforms, dismissal of gendered violence, underfunding of feminist services, and opposition to intersectional approaches. These dynamics perpetuate systemic barriers for women, particularly those who are racialized, Indigenous, or otherwise marginalized.
November 7, 2025
Submission to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM): Bill C-12 – Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act
Bill C-12 proposes major changes to Canada’s immigration system. This submission examines its impact on Gender Based Violence (GBV) survivors, refugees, and marginalized groups, and recommends a rights-based, survivor-centered approach.
The Barbra Schlifer Clinic is a national leader in GBV response, offering trauma-informed legal, counselling, and interpretation services to women and gender-diverse survivors. For over 40 years, we’ve advanced gender justice through intersectional, client-centred support and systemic advocacy, helping thousands navigate violence, immigration challenges, and discrimination.
August 1, 2025
Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the 2025 Federal Budget
Submitted by:
Barbara Schlifer Commemorative Clinic The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic (the Clinic) provides frontline services to women who have experienced intimate partner violence, family violence, and structural violence. These services include legal representation, professional counselling, and language interpretation, catering to women and gender diverse survivors from diverse racial, ethnocultural, and socio-economic backgrounds. The Clinic is dedicated to addressing gender-based and sexual violence comprehensively, considering the intersecting inequalities affecting women and gender-diverse individuals.
July 30, 2025
Joint Submission on Bill 41: Protection from Coerced Debts Incurred in relation to Human Trafficking Act, 2023
We are a coalition of organizations across Ontario engaged in frontline, systems-level, and advocacy work with survivors of gender-based violence, human trafficking, coercive control, and economic coercion. Our work is grounded in trauma-informed, anti-racist, anti-criminalization, and intersectional feminist frameworks, and is informed by the lived expertise of survivors — particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, migrant, undocumented, 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled, and otherwise marginalized.
2024 Submissions
September 9, 2024
Submission to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (89th Session)
In its 2015 Report, CEDAW called upon Canada to consider and implement various recommendations to improve the socioeconomic circumstances of Aboriginal women and address the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG), as well as other forms of violence that Aboriginal women experience. The recommendations were comprehensive and aimed at addressing systemic issues.
July 24, 2024
Standing Committee on Justice Policy: A Study on Intimate Partner Violence
One in three women worldwide experiences physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, highlighting the pervasive and persistent nature of intimate partner violence (IPV).1 In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized IPV as a major global public health concern of pandemic proportions, since it affects millions of people and can result in immediate and long-lasting health, social and economic consequences.2 Women who experience violence are more likely to face physical health (including sexual and reproductive health) and mental health consequences.3
2024 Statements
May 16, 2024
Opening Statement “Exploring Coercive Behavior: A Global Legislative Inquiry”
(1Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertakes a study of coercive behaviour, focusing on countries or jurisdictions around the world that have already legislated on this issue. The committee has devoted at least six meetings to this matter and will then report its findings and recommendations to the House).
February 29, 2024
Opening Statement submitted on Thursday, February 29, at the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights for the study of Bill C-332, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (controlling or coercive conduct).
I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to speak before you today regarding the important topic of the proposed legislative amendments, specifically Bill C-332, aimed at addressing coercive control within the Criminal Code. The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic since 1985 has been at the forefront of providing trauma-informed legal, counselling, interpretation services and support to marginalized and racialized women and gender-diverse individuals who have experienced violence.
2023
November 23, 2023
Submissions to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women on Bill C-205, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to another Act (interim release and domestic violence recognizance orders)
Thank you, honourable chair and committee members. I am Deepa Mattoo, Lawyer and Executive Director of the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic. I appreciate the opportunity to address you today and to present these submissions on behalf of the Clinic.
The Clinic offers trauma-informed legal services and representation, counselling, multilingual interpretation, and system transformation to support women and gender-diverse people who have experienced violence. Our efforts are rooted in the foundational principles of intersectionality, trauma-informed care, and a resolute dedication to a client-centred approach.
In my submissions, I want to focus on the voices of our clients. I will articulate four key points in response to the proposed amendments. I will talk about how these changes relate to the experiences of survivors of gender-based violence, the implications for marginalized communities, an assessment of the current conditions of our system, and finally, a recommendation for evidence-based law reform.
October 31, 2023
Position Paper on Bill C-202 and Bill C-332: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (controlling or coercive conduct)
The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic is writing to offer our expertise in response to recent legislative proposals to criminalize coercive control, Private Member’s Bill C-202, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (controlling or coercive conduct), and Private Member’s Bill C-332, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (controlling or coercive conduct).
October 19, 2023
Proposed Amendments to Bill C-48 and Important Considerations about the Bail System
This brief is the result of a collaboration among organizations that work with and on behalf of women and gender-diverse people who have faced gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, and processes of criminalization.
June 1, 2023
Input on the country visit to Canada of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.
Submitted by Legal Assistance of Windsor, FCJ Refugee Centre, Alliance for Gender Justice in Migration, Collaborative Network to End Exploitation, and Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
Universal Periodic Review
Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Stakeholder Report
We thank the UN for the opportunity to participate in the UPR process. The following recommendations reflect the voices of survivors. We hope they will remind Canada of its human rights obligations—especially those related to gender-based violence.
2022 Submissions
Written Brief to Status of Women Committee on Intimate Partner Violence and Domestic Violence in Canada
2022 Statements
Joint Statement in solidarity with Indigenous families mourning the murder of four Indigenous women. ( December 6)
December 6, 2022 – As we observe the 16 Days of Activism on GBV and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on VAW, the announcement of charges in the murder of four Indigenous women at the hands of an alleged serial killer linked to white supremacist ideology is a tragic indication that the urgent action long called for by Indigenous women, families, and communities to address the ongoing genocide of Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirt, and gender-diverse people has not been taken.
Joint statement urging the federal government to take immediate action on reforms to Canada’s EI social insurance system. (December 12)
Ministers, we are writing on behalf of the Inter-provincial EI Working Group to call for urgent action on reforms to Canada’s EI social insurance system. We need to restore its role as an automatic economic stabilizer and ensure we have an EI system that works for workers. Over 80 years ago workers joined an On to Ottawa Trek to demand, among other reforms, a social insurance system that would provide income maintenance during periods of unemployment. In the decades since the 1940 UI Act, the system has played a critical role in the health of the larger economy as well as individuals and their families. A 1990s federal study found that EI was ‘the single most powerful automatic stabilizer’ reducing both GDP and job losses by up to 14% during recessions. But much of that earlier capacity has been lost after repeated cutbacks and only 40% of the unemployed receive EI at any given time.
2020
Family Law Reform in Ontario: increasing safety for women and children and bringing more consistency between the Children’s Law Reform Act and the Divorce Act (January 2020)
The Clinic is pleased to provide the following recommendations for amending the Children’s Law Reform Act to assist women who are accessing Ontario’s family law legal system for safe and fair resolutions following family breakdown. We believe the following recommendations will increase safety for women and children. In addition, we believe these recommendations will bring more clarity and consistency to the family law system overall for all women, regardless of whether they are married or seeking a divorce.
Submissions to the UN SRVAW thematic report on rape as a violation and gender-based violence against women grave and systematic human rights (May 2020)
The Clinic, and organizations like the Clinic, focus on access to justice for sexual violence survivors who have an ongoing struggle for sustainable funding and resources in Canada. While we do raise charitable donations to support our work, we primarily rely on public funding to provide our services free of charge.
Government’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic (June 2020)
We are pleased to provide the following recommendations to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disability, in relation to the Government’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic. We would like to thank Parliament for their quick, emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the efforts that have been made through the COVID-19 Economic Response Plan to support the Canadians left most vulnerable by this global health crisis.
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against women’s Call for submissions: COVID-19 and the Increase of domestic violence against women (June 2020)
This submission has been prepared through the collaboration of leaders, experts, and researchers from a number of frontline and advocacy organizations, including Deepa Mattoo and Alina Butt from the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Lise Martin and Krys Maki from Women’s Shelters Canada, Raji Mangat from West Coast LEAF, Anjum Sultana from YWCA Canada, Suki Beavers from the National Association of Women and the Law, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
2019
Submission to the UN Commission on the Status of Women
The Clinic’s submission pertains to Section 108(1) (a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in which a “claim for refugee protection shall be rejected, and a person is not a Convention refugee or a person in need of protection,” if, “the person has voluntarily reavailed themself of the protection of their country of nationality.” The Act, in our experience, discriminates against women who are victims of domestic violence in failing to consider the lived realities of these individuals and by not reflecting a gender-sensitive based approach.
Submissions to the UN SRVAW thematic report on rape as a violation and gender-based violence against women grave and systematic human rights
Submission to the UN Commission on the Status of Women regarding the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
The Clinic’s submission pertains to Section 108(1) (a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in which a “claim for refugee protection shall be rejected, and a person is not a Convention refugee or a person in need of protection,” if, “the person has voluntarily reavailed themself of the protection of their country of nationality.” The Act, in our experience, discriminates against women who are victims of domestic violence in failing to consider the lived realities of these individuals and by not reflecting a gender-sensitive based approach.
Feedback to Continuing Committee of Officials on Human Rights (CCOHR) Protocol
2018
- Migration Challenges and Opportunities for Canada in the 21st Century, Submission to the Federal Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, October 31
- Submissions for the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, Bill C-78, October 26
- BILL C-75: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code, The Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts, Submission to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights Studies, September 1
- Recommendations to Canada under its Third Universal Periodic Review, August 2018
- Submissions to the Special Rapporteur on Migrant Rights , April 2018
- Submissions to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, April 2018
- Universal Periodic Review – United Nations Submissions, March 22, 2018
2017
- Intervened at the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer and C-R.B. and J.P.B. to present our perspective on the relevance of The Hague Convention for women who experience domestic violence, November 2017
- The Clinic joined as a public interest plaintiff in a claim against London Police Services: Statement of Claim, November 2017
- The Clinic made submissions in support of Mandi Gray’s restitution award in the case of R vs. Ururyar: Schlifer Clinic Application Record – R. v. Ururyar, Schlifer Factum, Ururyar Factum, Leave to Intervene Granted, March 2017
- The Barbra Schlifer Clinic is responding to the Ontario government’s request for input on a proposed gender-based violence (GBV) strategy, September 2017
2016
- Submissions to the Law Society of Upper Canada on the Experiences of Racialized Licensees, November 2016
- Submissions on Regulations Amending Canada’s Conditional Permanent Residence Provisions, October 2016
- Submissions to the UN Working Group on Peoples of African Descent, October 2016
- Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Policies: Recommendations, October 2016
- Status of Women Canada: Submission of the Barbra Schlifer Clinic, and Supplement to the Submission of the Barbra Schlifer Clinic, September 2016
- Submissions on the Draft Update of CEDAW’s General Recommendation No. 19 (1992) on Gender Based Violence against Women, September 2016
- Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, September 2016
- United Nations Working Group on Discrimination Against Women (UNWGDAW) Best Practices and Recommendations, September 2016
- Submission of Women Against Violence Women Rape Crisis Centre and the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic: Regarding the Honourable Justice Robin Camp, and Affidavit of Amanda Dale in Support of the Motion for Leave to Intervene, June 2016
- Joint Submission of the Ad Hoc NGO Coalition to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the May 2013 Universal Periodic Review of Canada
- Submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Immigration regarding the Committee’s review of Bill C-31, April 2012
- Submission to the United Nations: “The Intersection of Race and Gender in the Matter of the Canadian State’s Ban on Facial Coverings During the Course of Citizenship Oaths,” February 2012
- Paroles creuses et deux poids deux mesures : le manquement du Canada au respect et au renforcement des droits humains
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