On December 9, 2025, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada introduced Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act. Bill C-16 proposes legislative reforms to the Criminal Code, the Canadian Victim Bill of Rights and other laws to address the longstanding, pervasive sexual and intimate partner violence that disproportionately impacts women, especially those who face systemic barriers. The Bill also includes measures to stop the proliferation of technology-facilitated gender-based violence and the increasing number of gender-based violence cases being stayed as a result of the Jordan framework.
Strengthening the response to femicide and intimate partner violence
Changes to the Criminal Code under Bill C-16 will classify homicides involving hate, controlling behaviour, sexual violence or exploitation as first-degree murder. These types of homicides will be defined as femicide when the victim is a woman.
Femicide is defined as the killing of females, primarily by men, because of their gender or sex. According to the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women report, femicide is “the most extreme form of violence against women, girls, and gender-diverse people” that is “intricately related to misogyny, the position of women in society, gender roles, unequal distributions of power based on gender, and other gender-based beliefs and misogynistic systems.”
Myrna Dawson, the founder and director of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability at the University of Guelph, and other experts, have advocated for the creation of a femicide law in Canada. Dawson says classifying femicide in the Criminal Code “makes visible an already existing pattern, allowing the state to recognize, investigate, record, and prevent this specific and recurring form of lethal violence.”
The Bill will also create a new offence that prohibits coercive or controlling behaviour against an intimate partner. Coercive control is a form of intimate partner violence that is a risk factor for femicide. It is a repeated pattern of behaviour used by an abuser to establish and maintain power over the survivor through tactics such as intimidation, threats, manipulation, surveillance through technology, harassment, jealousy and isolation that makes it extremely difficult to escape the cycle of abuse.
Criminalizing coercive control can help protect survivors from further harm, hold the offender accountable and increase societal awareness.
Increasing protections against sexual violence
The proposed legislation will prohibit the distribution of and threats to distribute non-consensual intimate images, including sexual deepfakes, and threats to distribute child sexual abuse and exploitation material. The Bill will also increase penalties for sexual crimes, including voyeurism, sexual assault, indecent exposure, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, and child sexual abuse.
Non-consensual sexual deepfakes and deepnudes are media that use artificial intelligence to digitally insert an individual’s image into sexual videos (deepfakes) and photos (deepnudes) without their consent.
The 2025 research report by the Canadian Women’s Foundation found that 61 percent of women and gender-diverse people have experienced some form of gendered digital harm, with even higher rates among Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQQIA+ people and people with disabilities.
McMaster researcher Alexis-Carlota Cochrane explains:
“Women and gender-diverse people have long been targeted by a broad spectrum of technology-facilitated harms: cyberstalking, online harassment, hate speech, doxxing and increasingly, the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. Deepfakes are just the latest strategy in that continuum.
These harms aren’t experienced equally. They’re deeply tied to misogyny and entitlement, especially when it comes to targeting people who are visible, outspoken, or hold public influence.”
A 2025 research study across 11 countries under the Disrupting Harm Project found that at least 1.2 million children disclosed that they had their images manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes in the past year.
“We must be clear. Sexualised images of children generated or manipulated using AI tools are child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Deepfake abuse is abuse, and there is nothing fake about the harm it causes.
When a child’s image or identity is used, that child is directly victimised. Even without an identifiable victim, AI-generated child sexual abuse material normalises the sexual exploitation of children, fuels demand for abusive content and presents significant challenges for law enforcement in identifying and protecting children that need help.” (UNICEF Canada, 2026)
Addressing the systemic challenges caused by R. v. Jordan
As a result of the 2016 Supreme Court R. v. Jordan case decision, when a court finds that an accused person’s right to be tried within a reasonable time has been violated, the case can be stayed. When a case is stayed, prosecution stops and no decision is made about the guilt or innocence of the accused.
The current criminal justice system approach to R v. Jordan disproportionately negatively impacts survivors of gender-based violence. In 2022/2023, nearly one in three sexual assault cases in adult courts exceeded the Jordan limit (i.e., 18 months for provincial court cases and 30 months for superior court cases). Among these cases, 47.3% were stayed or withdrawn.
“[Sexual assault] proceedings are the most drawn out of prosecutions. … Because the charges are serious, the accused is given significant time to retain counsel, and that delay is not deducted from the 18-month ceiling. The trials are getting longer and the cross-examinations are rarely curtailed. … Crowns with little experience are being given these cases with little mentorship or time to understand this area of law, meet with the survivor, and really prepare the case. The cases are complex and resources continue to dwindle.” (Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime, 2025)
The Protecting Victims Act will give courts guidance on how to assess complex cases that may need more time and require courts to consider alternatives to staying trials that extend beyond the Jordan limits.
EVA BC’s executive director, Ninu Kang, said, “We are encouraged by what is proposed in this new legislation to recognize the severity of these crimes that impact survivors of gender-based violence, and the suggested improvements to the processes to better support those who experience them. All the recommendations echo EVA BC’s advocacy. We continue to work closely with government partners to ensure we don’t take our eyes off the need for changes to support survivors.”
