Should people have access to their partner’s violent history? Ontario is one step closer to making it happen

A motion that paves the way for an Ontario law allowing people access to information about a partner’s past charges or criminal convictions has been unanimously approved by all parties.

“It’s very important to talk about domestic violence,” said PC MPP Christine Hogarth (Etobicoke-Lakeshore), who proposed the motion as a first step to implementing a “Clare’s Law.”

“I’m really glad it’s on the radar — we just need to keep our voices loud and clear that we need to make some changes,” Hogarth said after the vote Wednesday in the legislature.

Hogarth, the parliamentary assistant to the province’s solicitor general, said work will now continue with Charmaine Williams, the associate minister of women’s social and economic opportunity “to put together a plan” that would see Ontario “adopt mechanisms for disclosure” to allow partners or their loved ones to request information about someone’s violent background, or give police the ability to disclose it to someone vulnerable.

In 2014, the British government implemented Clare’s Law, years after a young woman was killed by her partner who had a long history of abuse of which she was not aware.

Several provinces now have their own versions, including Saskatchewan — the first in Canada — and Alberta.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a rise in intimate partner violence, and an inquest into the deaths of three women in Eastern Ontario — all former partners of the same man — urged the provincial government to implement a Clare’s Law.

New Democrat MPP Jennie Stevens (St. Catharines) called Hogarth’s motion a “watered down version” of the Clare’s Law she proposed in a private member’s bill in April 2021 that was later voted down, and said it is not binding.

However, “it is a positive development to hear that the (bill) I tabled in 2021 will be getting another look by the Ford government,” said Stevens. “We need all the tools we can get to combat intimate partner violence, but it will take a more holistic approach to make change possible.”

Stevens said she hopes the motion “inspires a more fulsome bill that will take more ambitious steps to end violence, with the funding for service providers and resources necessary for women to leave unsafe situations safely.”

Carla Neto, executive director of Women’s Habitat in Etobicoke, has previously told the Star that while a Clare’s Law here won’t end violence against women, “it’s another avenue that women can use and potential victims can use because we know that those who harm do go from family to family.”

Such laws usually include a “right to know” that allows someone to request details about their partner’s past, but also means police officers have the “right to tell” someone at risk. Such information is shared confidentially, not in writing, and cannot be publicly divulged.

Hogarth said the province needs to look to other jurisdictions for best practices.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy