Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act

BWSS, alongside our colleagues across the anti-violence sector, has submitted a response to Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

The proposed legislation includes amendments to the Criminal Code, including the introduction of a coercive control offence, changes to criminal harassment laws, and broader efforts to address gender-based violence, including femicide.

You can learn more about the bill here

This legislation represents an important shift in public and legal recognition that violence in intimate relationships extends beyond physical and sexual assault. It reflects growing awareness that coercive control, ongoing domination, and escalating abuse are central to how violence operates.

Bill C-223, the Keeping Children Safe Act

Nationally, Bill C-223 is advancing conversations about how family courts respond to intimate partner violence, particularly in custody and parenting decisions. The bill seeks to strengthen recognition of coercive control and challenge assumptions that have historically minimized violence in family law proceedings.

BWSS’s analysis continues to shape these national conversations, including through our work on weaponized silence and coercive control in family court

Recent coverage has framed Bill C-223 as a response to “complex” family situations. From our perspective, the issue is not complexity, but the ongoing failure of legal systems to fully recognize and respond to intimate partner violence, sexualized violence, and gender-based violence. Stronger legal language alone does not change how risk is understood or how evidence is interpreted in practice.

This gap was highlighted in recent national coverage referencing BWSS analysis alongside anti-violence organizations across Canada

BC Crown Counsel Update

At the provincial level, the BC Prosecution Service recently updated its Victims of Crime (VIC 1) policy, including stronger expectations around communication with survivors, consultation on publication bans, and the use of testimonial supports.

You can read more here

These changes may improve survivors’ participation in the court process. However, Crown counsel still determines whether charges proceed, legal thresholds remain the same, and the system continues to rely heavily on incident-based evidence and police discretion. Survivors may have more involvement, but not necessarily more control over outcomes.

BC Court of Appeals BWSS Seeks to Intervene 

This week BWSS is appearing before the BC Court of Appeal on an application to intervene in a case involving survivors pursuing civil claims following sexual violence. The Court is deciding whether organizations like BWSS can participate to advance survivor-centred perspectives that might otherwise be absent.

For many survivors, the criminal legal system does not result in charges or convictions, making civil claims one of the few remaining pathways to accountability. How courts approach these cases may determine whether that pathway remains accessible.

Alongside this work, BWSS continues to advance the Red Flag Law project, which focuses on strengthening survivor safety and early intervention mechanisms.

Across all these developments, a similar pattern is emerging: efforts are underway to better recognize survivors and coercive control under the law, while the systems that determine outcomes remain largely intact.

For decades, BWSS has worked at the intersection of frontline support, legal advocacy, public education, and systems change. From court interventions to national policy analysis, BWSS continues to shape conversations on coercive control, femicide prevention, and survivor-centred legal reform across Canada.

Safe Mother’s Day 2026

What Mothers Are Managing

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10, 2026.

Across British Columbia, there are mothers planning time with their children, while there are also mothers planning around risk due to violence by an intimate partner.

Some mothers are living with intimate partner violence. There are mothers who have left the father of their children and are navigating the risk of lethal violence post-separation. There are mothers who are returning to an abusive relationship because there are too many barriers to living free, such as no affordable housing, no childcare and threats of losing children in family court. There are other moms who are trying to hold things together long enough to get through the week.

For all mothers living with intimate partner violence, their children are part of all of this.

In many homes, violence is already present, and the children hear it, see the aftermath, notice changes in tone, movement, and routine by their father/father figure, and they are walking on eggshells, too.

Thousands of mothers in BC right now are making real-time decisions about how to reduce harm, keep things steady, get through the day, and stay safe themselves and their children.

Mother’s Day is considered a time of celebration, and for hundreds of women who access BWSS each month, their experience of motherhood continues inside these conditions. Many are already connected to systems; there may be police reports, child protection files, or court orders in place. The information exists. What happens next depends on how it is acted on.

This week, BWSS is marking Safe Mother’s Day 2026.

So, we have written to mayors and city councillors across the province again. Since 2023, we have been engaging with municipalities to recognize that safety for mothers and children is part of community safety. Housing, policing, services, and coordination all shape what happens next.

We are also sharing tools that reflect what women are already doing, assessing risk, documenting what is happening, limiting contact where possible, planning for safety, and reaching out for support.

Alongside this work, My Sister’s Closet is marking the week with a simple message – Safety Changes Everything.

That message is reflected in the t-shirts now in stores and worn by volunteers and community members. And letters to Mothers placed at our stores.

It is both a slogan and a statement of fact. When safety is present, decisions change, mothers and their children move more easily, and their lives change. When safety is not present, everything is shaped around managing risk.

Mother’s Day does not look the same in every home.

For many mothers, it includes careful planning, constant awareness, and decisions made under pressure. It includes children who are part of these moments.

This is already happening.

Support is available.

Battered Women’s Support Services continues to work directly with women and children living with and leaving violence, providing crisis support, legal advocacy, and safety planning.

Battered Women’s Support Services is undertaking focused work on Red Flag laws and their application in situations of intimate partner and gender-based violence across British Columbia.

Red Flag laws create a legal pathway for courts to temporarily restrict an individual’s access to firearms where there is evidence of risk. These orders are intended to respond to situations where threats, patterns of violence, or other indicators suggest an increased likelihood of harm. In the context of intimate partner violence, the presence of a firearm is a known factor associated with increased lethality.

In specific circumstances, a legal mechanism that restricts access to firearms may interrupt escalation. Where threats are explicit and access to weapons is known, timely intervention can reduce immediate risk. This potential is part of why Red Flag laws are being introduced and discussed across jurisdictions.

At the same time, the conditions in which survivors are making decisions about safety are not controlled or predictable.

Removing a firearm does not remove the person using violence. It does not disrupt coercive control or eliminate the possibility of retaliation. It does not address the structural and practical barriers that shape a survivor’s decisions, including access to housing, the involvement of children, exposure to court processes, and economic dependence.

Risk can shift following legal intervention. Separation, changes in control, and court involvement are well-established periods of heightened danger. Any legal action that alters access to weapons must be understood within this broader risk environment.

For these reasons, BWSS is not approaching Red Flag laws as a stand-alone solution or a tool to be applied uniformly. Their usefulness depends on timing, documentation, system response, and the survivor’s circumstances. Decisions about whether and how to pursue a Red Flag order must be grounded in careful assessment, survivor choice, and coordinated safety planning.

Frontline workers are already navigating these considerations. Survivors are already weighing these risks. These decisions are being made in real time, often without consistent guidance or system alignment.

Project Focus

This initiative is focused on understanding how Red Flag laws may function in practice within the realities of intimate partner violence.

BWSS is examining:

• How concerns about firearms or weapons emerge in frontline work
• How risk is assessed when access to weapons is a factor
• How decisions are made about legal intervention
• What conditions support or undermine safety after action is taken

This work is grounded in the knowledge and experience of those directly involved in these situations.

Call for Input: British Columbia

As part of this project, BWSS is inviting input from across British Columbia.

We are seeking perspectives from:

• Transition house workers
• Community-based victim service staff
• Legal advocates
• Frontline advocates’
• Counsellors
• Outreach workers
• Survivors

Your experience will inform how Red Flag laws are understood and applied within a survivor-centred, safety-focused framework.

Participate

Contact

For further information or to connect Zahra directly:
secondstage@bwss.org
Mobile: 236-333-9326

April 28, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“We’ve Been Saying This for Years”

New Death Review Confirms Intimate Partner Violence Deaths Are Overwhelmingly Preventable

Vancouver, BC – The latest death review panel report, Our Time to Act, confirms what Battered Women’s Support Services has been documenting and raising publicly for decades, that intimate partner violence deaths in British Columbia follow a known pattern and are overwhelmingly preventable.

An earlier review covering 2010-2015 described the same sequence: prior violence, escalating risk, repeated contact with police and courts, and missed points of intervention. The current report shows that the sequence is continuing. Women who were killed were already known to systems, reports had been made, and in some cases, protection orders were in place.

The findings align with an independent review of British Columbia’s legal system led by Kim Stanton, which examined how police, Crown, and courts handle intimate partner violence cases and found many do not move forward. Taken together, the reports show a continuous path from system contact to escalation.

Economic conditions are also shaping that path. Current housing costs and financial instability limit the options available to women trying to leave. BWSS’s analysis of the 60 barriers to leaving shows how housing, income, legal processes, and safety concerns are managed at the same time. Provincial budget decisions influence whether safe options are available at the moment someone tries to leave.

British Columbia continues to have one of the highest rates of women killed by partners in Canada.

“For decades, survivors have been telling us what is happening, and we have been bringing that forward. This report confirms that intimate partner violence deaths follow a known pattern and are overwhelmingly preventable,” said Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director of Battered Women’s Support Services. “Women were already in contact with police, courts, and services before they were killed. The system response did not change the outcome.”

The recommendations in the report, coordination, training, information sharing, and earlier intervention, reflect actions BWSS has been advancing through its Five Asks:

• Municipal gender-based violence task forces to coordinate local responses
  • Stabilization and expansion of frontline services
  • Standardized risk assessment across police, courts, and related systems
  • A province-wide prevention approach grounded in public safety
  • Dedicated leadership on gender-based violence within public safety structures

“These actions are not new. They reflect what frontline work has been showing for years. Survivors are navigating housing, safety, and legal risk at the same time, while systems respond in pieces. When that response does not line up with the level of risk, the outcome is already visible.”

Treena still keeps the car keys by the door.
She began doing this when she was planning how to leave.

For years, Treena lived with escalating violence. There were threats. There was sexualized abuse. One night, he wrapped his hands around her neck and strangled her. In that moment, she understood something many survivors come to know. Leaving requires courage, and it also requires surviving what happens next.

Treena has two young children, a two-year-old and a five-year-old. Like many mothers living with violence, she worried about what would happen to them if she tried to escape.

She eventually found the courage to leave. Six weeks later, he started showing up again.

He appeared at the grocery store where Treena worked. Sometimes he brought flowers. Sometimes small gifts. He said he was sorry. He said he wanted his family back. Treena recognized the danger behind those gestures.

A co-worker told her about Battered Women’s Support Services, and she called our crisis line. She was assigned a support worker and a legal advocate.

A legal advocate helped her apply for a family law protection order so she and her children could have clear boundaries and some measure of safety.

The order was meant to protect Treena and her children. However, her former husband ignored it. He violated the rules around child exchanges. He continued appearing in places connected to Treena. When she contacted the police, she was told that officers did not believe they should enforce the order because it was a family law matter, and he had not done anything beyond showing up.

Treena knew the danger was real. Our team knew it as well.

The warning signs were clear. Treena had survived strangulation. She had received repeated death threats. The harassment increased after the separation. Each time he appeared unexpectedly, the risk grew. When Treena called us again, she was frightened that the situation was escalating and no one was taking it seriously.

This is where someone like you makes a difference.

Because of someone like you, a frontline support worker listened carefully and confirmed that Treena was not imagining the danger. She helped Treena understand what escalation can look like and what steps could strengthen her safety.

Because of someone like you, a support worker advocated for Treena to ensure the protection order was taken seriously. Documents were reviewed. The warning signs were placed clearly in front of the people responsible for acting on them.

Because of someone like you, our team continued advocating until the situation was reviewed more closely.

After continued advocacy from our team, the protection order was finally enforced.

Treena’s former husband was arrested and charged under the Criminal Code, including assault and uttering threats. Treena and her children are safer today. None of this happened by chance.

Because of someone like you, Treena had people standing beside her when the danger escalated, and someone recognized the warning signs before it was too late.

Every day, women across our community face situations like Treena’s. The warning signs of serious violence are present, yet too often, survivors are left to face those dangers alone.

Your support ensures that when survivors reach out, someone is ready to listen, advocate, and act.

Because of someone like you, survivors receive crisis support, legal advocacy, and safety planning when they need it most.

Leaving violence rarely happens in a single moment. It is a process that requires courage, support, and people willing to stand beside survivors when the path to safety becomes complicated.

Treena had that support.

The next woman who calls us should have it too.

Please make your donation today to help ensure that when a woman like Treena reaches out for help, someone is there to answer. Your gift will provide crisis support, legal advocacy, and safety planning for women and children facing escalating violence.

A gift today helps ensure that when a survivor calls our crisis line, a trained advocate is there to listen, assess the danger, and help her take the next step toward safety.

Right now, somewhere in our community, another woman is deciding whether it is safe to reach out for help.

Please make your donation today to help ensure that when a woman like Treena reaches out for help, someone is there to answer. Your gift will provide crisis support, legal advocacy, and safety planning for women and children facing escalating violence.

A gift today helps ensure that when a survivor calls our crisis line, a trained advocate is there to listen, assess the danger, and help her take the next step toward safety.

Right now, somewhere in our community, another woman is deciding whether it is safe to reach out for help.