Canada's justice minister says he is 'open' to adding 'femicide' to the Criminal Code
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The term broadly refers to when a woman is killed by a man based on the fact that she is a woman, with varying definitions that speak to previous patterns of abuse by a male perpetrator or ideologies. Police services that use the term often do so when a killing occurs in the context of an intimate partner relationship.
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Kingston, Ont. police did so for the first time last month when announcing it had laid first-degree murder charges against a 26-year-old man charged in the death of his 25-year-old partner. Police said it considered her death a 'femicide.'
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During the federal election campaign, the Liberals inked the term into their platform, promising to better protect victims of sexual and intimate partner violence by 'making murder motivated by hate a constructive first-degree offence, including femicide.'
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In a recent wide-ranging interview, Fraser said the government would look at the 'precise language' of the reforms it plans to make to the Criminal Code, which are expected to be tabled in a bill this fall.
Asked specifically whether he was open to including 'femicide' in the Criminal Code, Fraser said, 'I'm open to it, certainly.'
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'I'm not going to close the door on any of the solutions that may be presented to me over the next couple of months as we seek to finalize the draft. But we've not made a decision one way or another as to the language that will be included in either the name of the offence, or the specific language included in the new provisions we'll be looking to add.'
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Megan Walker, a longtime advocate for victims and preventing violence against women, says Fraser's statement makes her 'cautiously optimistic.'
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'It's the first time that there's been any acknowledgement that femicide could potentially be incorporated into the Criminal Code of Canada, so I'm encouraged.'
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The London, Ont.-based advocate, a member of the city's police board —which has called for it to be defined in law—says that doing so would allow for more accurate data collection.
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Police across Canada operate in a patchwork of how they report these killings, referring to them as an 'intimate partner death' or, in other cases, a 'domestic homicide.'
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Other times, police do not disclose any such details. That includes the cases of a murder-suicide when no charge is laid, but a woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner.
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National Post contacted police services across Canada to confirm whether they use 'femicide.' Police in Halifax, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Edmonton said they do not, but rather stick to definitions outlined in the Criminal Code.
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