Community Survey & Professional Stakeholder Survey
The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) is launching two surveys to help keep people safe from intimate partner violence and family violence by improving protection orders. We want to hear directly from people who have personal and/or professional experience with protection orders about their experiences and ideas about how to make things better.
What Are Protection Orders?
Protection orders are legal tools that are supposed to protect people from violence in their intimate relationships and family relationships.
There are many different types of protection orders. Protection orders can include restraining orders, peace bonds, bail release orders or undertakings, exclusive possession orders, and criminal sentences with protective conditions (like conditional sentences or probation and parole orders). The different types of protection orders are defined in our Project Glossary.
Surveys
We have two anonymous surveys. Our Community Survey is for people who wish to share their personal experience with protection orders in Ontario, and their recommendations for change.
- If you are a victim-survivor of intimate partner violence and/or family violence and have ever thought about getting a protection order or tried to get one, or if a protection order was imposed on your current or ex-partner (even if you did not want one to be), the Community Survey is for you.
- The Community Survey is also for anyone who has defended themselves against a protection order, and for people who have been ordered to comply with the conditions of a protection order.
- You may have other experiences with protection orders that do not fit these descriptions. We welcome everyone who has personal experience with protection orders, including friends and family members of people who have experienced any of the above, to complete the Community Survey.
Our Professional Stakeholder Survey is for people who work with protection orders in a professional capacity in Ontario and wish to share their experiences and recommendations for change.
You are welcome to complete both surveys if you have personal and professional experience with protection orders.
The deadline to complete the surveys is Friday April 11, 2025.
Your experiences and insights shared in the surveys will inform the LCO’s findings and recommendations about how to improve protection orders for everyone affected by intimate partner violence and family violence in Ontario.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Anyone who has experienced any of the following:
- You are currently trying to get a protection order or thinking about getting one.
- You got a protection order that may or may not have been effectively enforced.
- You were named by a judge/court/Crown prosecutor in a protection order as a person in need of protection, even if you did not ask for or want a protection order.
- You tried to get a protection order but were not successful.
- You have defended yourself against another person’s request for a protection order against you.
- You have ever been ordered to comply with the conditions of a protection order, which may have limited what you could do, where you could go, and who you could contact.
- You have someone close to you, like a family member or a friend, who has experienced any of the above.
Or any other personal experience with protection orders.
At the end of the survey, you will have the option to enter our prize draw to win an iPad and/or sign up to our email list to receive updates on our project findings (while keeping your responses anonymous).
Anyone who engages with protection orders, or the effects of protection orders, in their work. This could include people in the following professions:
- Academics / Educators
- Child Protection / Child Welfare Workers
- Court Staff
- Family Court Support Workers
- Frontline Service Providers (government and non-government)
- Healthcare Providers / Counsellors / Mental Health Professionals
- Indigenous Victim Services / Indigenous Courtworkers
- Intervention Program Staff
- Judge / Judicial Officers
- Lawyers (e.g. criminal, family, child protection and immigration lawyers)
- Legal Information Providers
- Managers / Supervisors / Executives
- Mediators / Adjudicators
- Police
- Probation Officers / Parole Officers
- Social Workers
- Victim Services
Or any other professional experience with protection orders.
At the end of the survey, you will have the option to sign up to our email list to receive updates on our project findings (while keeping your responses anonymous).
Yes.
Many people who work with protection orders in a professional capacity are drawn to this field because of personal experience. If you have personal and professional experience with protection orders, we invite you to complete both surveys.
Each survey takes approximately
15-35 minutes to complete, depending on how many questions are relevant to you. Sharing is optional; you can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable, and you can skip any question you do not want to answer.
You can pause the survey and return to it later if you are using the same device. Please note that your responses will only be saved if you start and finish the survey on the same device. (For example, if you start the survey on a computer, you can leave and come back to your saved responses on that same computer. If you start the survey on a computer and switch to a phone, any responses you input on the computer will not carry over to the phone.)
You can pause the survey and return to it later if you are using the same device. Please note that your earlier responses will only be saved for you to return to if you start and finish the survey on the same device, and only if you are
not using a private browser. For example, if you start the survey on a computer, you can leave and come back to your saved responses on that same computer. If you start the survey on a computer and switch to a phone, any responses you input on the computer will not carry over to the phone. We recommend completing the survey on a password-protected device, if you are able.
If you complete the survey in a private browser, which you may want to do for safety reasons, your answers will not be saved for you to return to if you exit the survey. Instead, if you exit and later return to the survey link, you will see a new survey to fill out.
Yes.
The surveys are anonymous, meaning that we will not ask for your name or any personally identifying information about you or your organization.
All questions are voluntary, and you can skip or come back to any question before submitting your responses. You can also choose the option “prefer not to say” where applicable.
If you have any concerns about online safety while completing this survey, we recommend opening the survey in a private browser. Please note that if you are completing the survey using a private browser, your responses will not be saved for you to return to if you exit the survey page. This feature can help ensure confidentiality and safety if someone else has access to your device. For more tech safety tips, please visit https://techsafety.ca/.
If you want to receive project updates after completing the survey(s), you will be redirected to a separate form where you can share your contact information with us. Because this form is separate, it cannot be linked back to your anonymous survey responses.
The surveys ask for your opinions on how well protection orders are working in Ontario and how can they can be improved. We also ask about experiences you may have had with different types of protection orders, including questions about access to protection orders, procedural requirements, issues with evidence, conditions that are granted or overlooked in protection orders, the duration of protection orders, and the enforcement of protection orders. We also ask about challenges and barriers to coordination across the protection order landscape, and ideas to strengthen coordination.
Some of our questions are specific to certain experiences with protection orders or to different types of protection orders in criminal law, family law, and child protection law. You can skip any question that is not relevant to you or that you do not wish to answer. You are welcome to share as much or as little as you feel comfortable.
All experiences and insights shared in the surveys will be collected and reviewed by the LCO and our researchers. The data we gather will help inform our findings and recommendations about how to improve protection orders for people who are experiencing intimate partner violence and family violence in Ontario. It will also ensure that the broad impact of protection order successes and failures is reflected in our final report.
This process is one of the many ways the LCO is collecting information about why protection orders are failing to prevent intimate partner violence and family violence in Ontario, and how they can be improved. Other processes include academic research, family and criminal court case law reviews, focus groups, and public consultations.
You can learn more about our project here.
Yes.
If you would like to complete one or both surveys in a different format, we can provide you with a paper copy that you are welcome to submit by email to lawcommission@lco-cdo.org or by mail to:
Law Commission of Ontario
Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
2032 Ignat Kaneff Building
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3
Your confidentiality will be maintained.
There will be other way to participate in our project as the work progresses. For example, we are preparing a Consultation Paper about some of the issues that are emerging in our research. We will also host focus groups to discuss ideas to improve protection orders. If you wish to be considered for a focus group, kindly advise by sending an email to lawcommission@lco-cdo.org. Please indicate your area of knowledge / experience.
It may not be possible for our researchers to meet with everyone who has relevant information to share. We will contact you if we are able to include you in a focus group, but kindly note that we have limited capacity and wish to ensure that focus groups are appropriately sized and include a diversity of perspectives.
You are welcome to complete the surveys if you have feedback that can be used to improve protection orders in Ontario.
Please note that some questions ask about protection orders that are only available in Ontario. You can skip any question that is not relevant to you.
Self-Care Resources
Completing a survey about intimate partner violence and family violence may be activating or may bring up distressing or overwhelming emotions. You are not alone.
If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, please CALL 911.
If you or someone you know is in need of support, consider the resources listed below or explore resources in your area using the Ontario Victim Services Directory.
You can also search iDetermine’s online resource for gender-based violence services available across Ontario. You can filter your search in a variety of ways, including by location, type of service/support, programs offered, how support is provided (text, phone, online chat, in person), and service features (accessibility features and service frameworks).
iDetermine’s online platform also provides information about safety planning, how to use technology more safely, and a Safe Relationship Quiz to learn what level of risk you may be facing in your relationships. Access these iDetermine resources here.
There are also 24/7 crisis lines available depending on your situation and location:
- Assaulted Women’s Helpline (provincial confidential and anonymous crisis line offering counselling, emotional support, information, safety planning, and referrals in more than 200 languages): 1-888-915-5727 / TTY: 1-888-915-5727 or online.
- Talk4Healing (culturally-grounded helpline for Indigenous women): 1-888-200-9997 or online.
- Fem’aide (ligne de soutien pour femmes touchées par la violence): 1-877-336-2433 / ATS: 1-866-860-7082 ou en ligne.
- Kids Help Phone (offers free, confidential e-mental health services to young people in Canada): 1-800-668-6868 / text CONNECT to 686868, or message online. If you identify as Indigenous, you can ask to be connected with a First Nations, Inuk, or Métis crisis responder (if one is available) by messaging FIRST NATIONS, INUIT, or METIS to 686868.
- A full list of crisis lines is available via the Ending Violence Association of Canada website.
Si vous souhaitez accéder à des autres services exclusivement en français dans la communauté, vous pouvez contacter: La Maison d’hébergement pour Femmes francophones: 647-777-6433, Oasis Centre des Femmes: 416-591-6565.
If you need a shelter or transition house, you can search your area using the ShelterSafe online database.
If you are looking for other self-care tips and resources, check out the following:
Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about the surveys, please contact Laura Snowdon, LCO Counsel and Project Lead, by email at LSnowdon@lco-cdo.org.
