Senator Boisvenu: If I’d come up with a long list, very few of my colleagues would have been inclined to make drastic changes to Bill C-5, so I’m focusing on crimes associated with domestic violence in particular. It often starts with harassment and sexual assault, and the situation always gets worse if those crimes aren’t severely punished when they’re committed in a context of domestic violence. You can be certain that in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the number of murdered women will increase.

Senator Boisvenu: The ones we were looking at are the ones that are in the bill. As I said earlier, these are the most common offences and they go hand in hand with family violence. I’m adding them because according to the data I obtained on conditional sentences, currently 80% of men who assault a woman serve a conditional sentence. On average, that sentence is six months. Removing crimes from the Criminal Code or adding even more domestic violence crimes to the Criminal Code will ensure that fewer men will be incarcerated and that more men will be released. When we see that in many cases the conditions are not respected, especially orders to stay away from the victim, I think that we’re putting women’s safety at even greater risk.