Bill C-16 risks discrimination against elder abuse victims
The proposed coercive control offence raises equality concerns under section 15 of the Charter.
Thirty-five years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada faced a question that still resonates: should the Criminal Code protect some victims but not others? In that case, two men challenged a sexual offence provision, arguing it violated the Charter’s section 15 equality guarantee because it protected young girls but not young boys.
The Court rejected the claim, not because boys were less deserving of protection, but because the offence was defined in biological terms. Only men could commit the specific physical act and only females could be its victims. By extension, one can see that if Parliament created an offence that could be committed by anyone, but protected only one group of victims, that could raise equality concerns under section 15.
That distinction matters today.
Shortly before Parliament rose for the winter break, Justice Minister Sean Fraser tabled Bill C-16, which would make coercive control a criminal offence, but only by intimate partners. If enacted as drafted, the law may invite a section 15 challenge from an accused arguing that it selectively protects some victims while excluding others.
Seniors can, of course, experience coercive control by intimate partners, but elder abuse often involves adult children, grandchildren, or caregivers who control money, housing, medical care, and access to friends. These victims would be denied the same legal protection afforded to intimate partner victims, creating unequal access to the criminal law for those harmed in relationships shaped by age and dependence.
Statistics support the need for an inclusive offence. According to 2024 data from the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, when a woman is killed by a family member, more than half the time (55 per cent), the accused is her own son. Frontline services report similar patterns. In 2024/2025, Seniors First B.C.’s Seniors Abuse and Information Line found that nearly two-thirds of alleged abusers were adult children.
What is striking is that, in November 2025, the House of Commons’ Status of Women Committee studied coercive control primarily through the lens of intimate partner violence and recommended criminalization, citing “England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Australia.” Yet some of these jurisdictions adopt a broader model. England and Wales, which share a unified legal system, criminalize coercive control not only between intimate partners but also within family relationships. Queensland, Australia goes even further and extends the offence to intimate partners, family members, and unpaid caregivers.
Bill C-16 marks an important step, and the Carney government deserves credit for naming coercive control as a crime. But if the law moves forward without expanding its reach, it risks entrenching a hierarchy of victims. If coercive control is criminal when committed by a spouse, but not when committed by an adult child, that distinction demands justification.
Lawmakers now face a choice: clarify the law to ensure seniors in relationships of trust and dependence are protected or leave it open for an accused intimate partner to raise the discrimination question in court. Parliament has an opportunity to resolve this issue before the law takes effect, strengthening equal protection for elder abuse victims and the offence’s constitutional soundness.