Build Canada LogoBuilder MP
← Back to bills

New Law Aims to Toughen Sentences for Domestic Violence

An Act to amend the Criminal Code

Summary

  • Creates new, specific Criminal Code offences for intimate partner violence (harassment, threats, assault, assault with a weapon/causing bodily harm, and aggravated assault) and classifies any murder of an intimate partner as first-degree murder.
  • Requires that police do not release an arrested person for an intimate partner offence if they offended in the previous five years or are already on a release order for an intimate partner offence.
  • Allows courts to detain an accused for up to seven days at any stage of proceedings to conduct a risk-of-reoffending assessment, on the court’s own motion or on application by the prosecutor or the victim.
  • Extends the period that seized items can be held from three months to one year and permits dispensing with notices to the person from whom the item was seized in certain circumstances.

Builder Assessment

Neutral

This bill is primarily a criminal justice and victim-protection reform with limited, indirect links to economic growth, productivity, or competitiveness. It likely increases justice-system costs and constraints without delivering clear gains on Build Canada’s core economic tenets.

  • Positives: Safer communities can support workforce participation and reduce some social and healthcare costs associated with intimate partner violence.
  • Conflicts: More mandatory detention and extended evidence holding increase state coercion and system costs; no direct levers for productivity, exports, investment, or tax reform.
  • To better align: add outcome-based performance targets (recidivism reduction, faster case resolution) with public reporting; use risk-based electronic monitoring and supervised release to reduce jail costs while protecting victims; digitize case management and standardize validated risk tools; include a fiscal note and sunset/review clause; pair with survivor employment supports and rapid rehousing to restore labour participation; expand evidence-based rehabilitation for low-risk offenders to reduce reoffending at lower cost; tighten safeguards for extended seizure periods and waived notices to protect property rights and cut litigation risk.

Question Period Cards

No question period cards yet.

Principles Analysis

—

Canada should aim to be the world's most prosperous country.

Public-safety focus may indirectly support prosperity by reducing social harms, but it is not a growth or wealth-creation policy.

✗

Promote economic freedom, ambition, and breaking from bureaucratic inertia (reduce red tape).

Adds new offences, mandatory non-release conditions, and court-ordered detentions—expanding state control and procedure rather than reducing bureaucracy.

—

Drive national productivity and global competitiveness.

Could reduce productivity losses tied to intimate partner violence, but effects are indirect and uncertain.

—

Grow exports of Canadian products and resources.

No direct impact on trade or export capacity.

—

Encourage investment, innovation, and resource development.

Rule-of-law benefits are indirect; there are no targeted measures to spur investment or innovation.

✗

Deliver better public services at lower cost (government efficiency).

Likely increases custody, assessments, and court workloads; longer seizure retention may reduce renewal paperwork but overall costs likely rise.

—

Reform taxes to incentivize work, risk-taking, and innovation.

No tax policy changes.

—

Focus on large-scale prosperity, not incrementalism.

A targeted criminal-law measure rather than a broad prosperity or productivity initiative.

Did we get the builder vote wrong?

Email [email protected]

C-225

PartyConservative
StatusOutside the Order of Precedence
Last updatedSep 18, 2025
TopicsCriminal Justice
Parliament45