Although Monday's announcement to prorogue Parliament has shelved most proposed legislation, the bill supported by local families affected by intimate partner violence will continue to be looked at in the next session.
Grieving father Dan Jennings sat in the House of Commons gallery last year during the final reading of Bill C-332, otherwise known as the Coercive Control Bill.
Although it passed unanimously, that bill was making its way through the next steps at Senate when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that the Governor General had agreed to prorogue Parliament.
That decision resulted in a virtual reset button being pressed for most pieces of proposed legislation that had had not yet achieved the final step of royal assent, but because Bill C-332 is a private members bill it will continue its journey to possibly being enshrined in law during the next session of Parliament.
If the House of Commons is reconvened and an election is sparked because the Liberal government does not survive a confidence vote, all of the work done so far on Bill C-332 will be lost.
“Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have failed women, and they’ve been too focused on their own internal battles to make the meaningful changes necessary to protect victims and survivors of intimate partner violence," said Laurel Collins, the NDP MP who brought forward Bill C-332.
"Criminalizing coercive control was recommended years ago, but the Liberals failed to make it a priority. They don’t deserve another chance. A New Democratic government won’t drop this. We will focus on protecting Canadians and putting people first.”
Reached at home in Sault Ste. Marie on Monday, Jennings told SooToday he hopes all of the work on the bill to date has not been lost. He promises to continue his advocacy work when the House of Commons and Senate reconvene on March 24.
"It's just a long way to go once again, emotionally," said Jennings when asked about the delay to get the legislation passed.
"One thing I'm glad to say is that, since we did have that unanimous vote for the for the third reading, I know we have support from all parties," he said.
"All of the tools and all of the frameworks are already in place, so there's not very much tweaking that needs to be done.
"We're far from done -- that's for sure," he added.
After his 22-year-old daughter Caitlin was killed, Jenning started a group called Caitlin's Heard for people to follow his journey advocating for a change and for people to follow the case against her alleged killer.
Brian Sweeney, who lost his daughter Angie Sweeney to intimate partner violence in October of 2023, was also in attendance for the third reading with supporters of Angie's Angels, a group set up after the tragedy to push for change in the laws surrounding intimate partner violence.
On Tuesday, Jennings learned he was selected to present at the Standing Committee on Justice Policy for its study of intimate partner violence on Jan. 15.
Jennings has received an education in how the laws in Canada are made while watching this bill and similar legislation make its way through the process since his daughter was found dead in her London, Ont. home in July of 2023.
Her fiancé David Norman Yates, a 50-year-old construction worker, was arrested at the scene and charged with murder.
That case is still making its way through the courts and Yates is considered innocent until proven guilty.