MLAs consider proposed expansion of family violence law

A survivor of intimate partner violence says proposed changes to the NWT’s family violence law could help save lives.

The woman, who did not identify herself in order to protect her children, told a public briefing at the legislature on Tuesday that she faced challenges applying for an emergency protection order, or EPO, due to the limitations of the existing legislation.

Currently, she said, people in the NWT cannot secure a protection order against someone they do not live with, are not married to, or share an unborn child with.

Only after she married her ex-husband was she granted an emergency protection order against him, the woman said. He was criminally charged with assaulting her after that order was issued.

“I would have never married him or lived with him if I simply had the option to apply for an EPO based on us dating alone,” she said.

“Making these changes may save someone’s life.”

The NWT Protection Against Family Violence Act, which came into force in 2005 and was last amended in 2023, offers protection to victims of family violence beyond the protections under the criminal code.

It defines family violence and identifies who can apply to the court for an emergency protection order.

The territorial government has proposed expanding who can get a protection order to include a person who has – or had – a dating relationship, family relationship or care relationship with the person from whom they want protection.

The NWT government also hopes to add stalking to the definition of family violence, make the language in the legislation more gender inclusive, and allow victims of stalking to sue their harasser and seek compensation.

A committee of regular MLAs examining those proposed changes hosted Tuesday’s public briefing.

Laurence Pouliot, a senior policy analyst at the territory’s Department of Justice, said the proposed amendments stem in part from a 2022 NWT Supreme Court decision that highlighted gaps in who may apply for an emergency protection order.

Pouliot further said proposed amendments were influenced by legislation elsewhere in Canada, as well as a 2021 report from the NWT YWCA, which recommended adding stalking to the list of behaviour that can be subject to a protection order.

Enforcement challenges

Kieron Testart, the MLA for Range Lake, noted the NWT has some of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in Canada and said efforts to curb that abuse “are much appreciated.”

He questioned, however, whether the territory has the policing resources to enforce a potential expansion of protection orders.

“I’m thinking particularly in smaller communities that may lack a detachment, or even those that do have a detachment, if we’re seeing an influx of who can apply for these orders and it’s easier to get them,” he said.

The NWT YWCA’s 2021 report found that enforcement of protection orders is a challenge in the territory, a finding echoed by survivors of intimate partner violence.

Brad Patzer, the NWT’s assistant deputy minister of justice, acknowledged on Tuesday that “policing resources are always an issue” in the territory.

But Patzer said he does not expect the proposed changes to family violence legislation would result in a significant increase in protection orders.

Margo Nightingale, a family lawyer in the NWT, raised some concerns with the proposed changes to the legislation. She said, for example, that it “may be the wrong tool” to address the protection of Elders.

Nightingale said increased training could be a better solution, encouraging MLAs to consider a written submission that provided further suggestions.