Overview
- The Supreme Court of Canada, in a 6–3 ruling Friday, recognized a standalone civil claim for damages in cases of intimate partner violence.
- The majority said the new tort covers coercive control and tactics beyond physical harm, including isolation, manipulation, surveillance, economic abuse, humiliation, intimidation, and sexual coercion.
- The case arose from Kuldeep Ahluwalia’s 16-year marriage, after a 2022 trial court created a “family violence” tort and a 2023 appeal court scrapped it and cut damages.
- Justice Nicholas Kasirer wrote for the majority that existing torts like assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress do not address distinct harms to dignity, autonomy, and equality within intimate relationships.
- Justice Mahmud Jamal’s dissent, joined by Justices Suzanne Côté and Malcolm Rowe, argued legislatures should make such changes and warned lower courts could face confusion, even as advocates and B.C.’s attorney general praised the ruling as a breakthrough for survivors’ access to justice.