On Monday, October 23, 2023, the LCO is hosting a free webinar about intimate partner violence to commemorate Access to Justice Week 2023.

This webinar is titled “Recommendations, innovations, and law reform to address the intimate partner violence epidemic.”

This session will consider reforms to Ontario’s justice system to improve legal protections and services for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). The topic is a long-standing and urgent access to justice issue in Ontario and across Canada.

The inadequacy of the justice system’s response to IPV and other gender-based violence has been criticized for many years, culminating earlier this year in calls for provincial and federal governments to declare and address the IPV epidemic. Recent inquests, inquiries, and legislative efforts following mass casualties and femicides have highlighted the need for – and complexity of – justice system reforms.

The session will bring together experts to discuss potential IPV reforms, legal issues, practical challenges, and best practices. Audience members will learn about:

  • The scope and scale of IPV;
  • The legal needs and access to justice challenges for survivors of IPV;
  • The strengths and weaknesses of current laws and practices;
  • Recommendations from recent inquests and inquiries (the Culleton, Kuzyk, and Warmerdam Inquest in Renfrew County Ontario, and the Mass Casualty Commission in Nova Scotia); and
  • Potential reforms to Ontario’s protection order regime.

This session will be interesting to many stakeholders, including individuals and organizations concerned with IPV and gender-based violence; family justice; criminal justice; access to justice for low-income, racialized, and rural/remote communities; courts; and justice policy-makers.

LCO Counsel Laura Snowdon is the Project Lead on the LCO’s Improving Protection Orders project. She will be joined by:

  • Frances Chapman, Professor of Law at Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University (Thunder Bay)
  • Neha Chugh, Founder of Chugh Law (Cornwall)
  • Deepa Mattoo, Executive Director of the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic (Toronto)

This webinar will be moderated by Laura Ogden, Research Assistant at the Law Commission of Ontario.

The session will take place online from 5 pm – 6 pm (Eastern Standard Time, Toronto).

Registration is required.

Follow this link to register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a2j-week-2023-recommendations-innovations-and-law-reform-to-address-ipv-tickets-732854195627?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl