{"id":745104,"date":"2026-06-18T14:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/745104\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:14:16","slug":"addressing-an-epidemic-baileys-law-on-intimate-partner-violence-becomes-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/745104\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing an epidemic: Bailey\u2019s Law on intimate partner violence becomes official"},"content":{"rendered":"

Addressing an epidemic: Bailey\u2019s Law on intimate partner violence becomes official<\/p>\n

Published 4:15 pm Wednesday, June 17, 2026<\/p>\n

After months of lobbying and lawmaking, Canada\u2019s Criminal Code will soon be amended.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, June 17, Bill C-225 received Royal Assent, just one day after passing its third reading in the Senate.<\/p>\n

Bill C-225, sponsored by Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola MP Frank Caputo, is also known as \u201cBailey\u2019s Law,\u201d named after McCourt, who died on July 4, 2025, following a violent daytime attack in a Kelowna parking lot.<\/p>\n

Her estranged ex-husband, James Plover, is facing first-degree murder charges <\/a>in relation to the killing.<\/p>\n

During a press conference at Parliament Hill on Wednesday, June 17, Caputo announced he heard Bailey\u2019s Law received Royal Assent. He was joined by a spokesperson and family member of the McCourt\u2019s family, Debbie Henderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been here fighting in honour of Bailey and to protect all people dealing with intimate partner violence,\u201d Henderson said, who added that the journey of getting the bill passed was an arduous but relatively quick task.<\/p>\n

Bill C-225 completed its first reading in the House of Commons on Sept. 18, 2025. It passed through the house by April 27, 2026. Subsequently, the bill went through the Senate, which completed all three readings <\/a>in less than a month, with a final reading of the bill taking place on Tuesday, June 16.<\/p>\n

The bill would strengthen Criminal Code provisions related to intimate partner violence, including classifying murder charges involving a documented history of coercive control as first-degree murder and imposing life sentences for some manslaughter convictions, with no eligibility for parole for at least 10 years.<\/p>\n

It also proposes that the court consider life in prison sentences in cases of manslaughter involving intimate partner violence, and increases the detention period of evidence seized from three months to 180 days.<\/p>\n

In his speech that happened right after Henderson\u2019s, Caputo called the bill\u2019s amendments \u201cthe most consequential change in modern legal history when it comes to the law of intimate partner violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst-degree murder will now happen in so many cases of intimate partner violence. That to me is a huge step forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In her speech, Henderson named a number of women who died in relation to reported intimate partner violence in B.C. recently, including Tatjana Stefanski, Laura Gover, Pamela Jarvis and Alexa Knodel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to them, and what happened to Bailey, is absolutely unacceptable. We live in a country where we should be safe and protected, and especially from an intimate partner who should be there to love and protect,\u201d she said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t happen all the time in our country, and we need the government to step up and do something about this; it\u2019s an epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked by reporters in parliament how the bill was passed so quickly, Caputo credited the \u201ctenacity\u201d of Bailey\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had meeting after meeting with the minister\u2019s office, with Senators. Debbie has been working tirelessly, (and) other family members have had meetings. When the family asks for something and they are as tenacious as Bailey\u2019s family has been, it\u2019s very hard to say no. We don\u2019t always see that on Parliament Hill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were unrelenting. This had to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Caputo acknowledged Bill C-225 as a win, he added \u201cthere\u2019s more work to do\u201d while suggesting more reform is needed regarding bail when it comes to intimate partner violence.<\/p>\n

Caputo said Bailey\u2019s Law will come into force in 30 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Addressing an epidemic: Bailey\u2019s Law on intimate partner violence becomes official Published 4:15 pm Wednesday, June 17, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-745104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}