Standing Committee on the Status of Women

Comité permanent de la condition féminine

For immediate release

Ottawa, November 25, 2025 -

The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women (the committee) tabled its report entitled "Coercive Control in Canada” today.

The report examines how coercive and controlling behaviour, otherwise known as coercive control, is a form of intimate partner and family violence. It discusses the harmful effects of coercive control on women and their families and makes recommendations to strengthen Canada’s legal, policy and support frameworks for survivors.

Throughout its study, the committee heard from survivors, women’s and Indigenous women’s organizations, advocates, police, legal experts and service providers about the need for greater awareness and identification of coercive control, as well as improved legal definitions, justice sector training, public education, support services for survivors and the collection of disaggregated data.

The committee also heard about the experiences of criminalizing coercive control in other jurisdictions, as well as the use of coercive control in family law through claims of parental alienation and harmful practices like reunification therapy.

In its report, the committee put forward 16 recommendations and made three observations to address the problem of coercive control in intimate partner relationships in Canada.

The report can be consulted on the committee’s web page on the Parliament of Canada website.