Bailey's Law protecting intimate partner violence victims now federal law
Bill C-225 received Royal Assent June 17, strengthening Criminal Code provisions to classify coercive control murders as first-degree offences.
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Canada's Criminal Code has been strengthened to better protect victims of intimate partner violence after Bill C-225 received Royal Assent on Wednesday, June 17—just one day after passing its third Senate reading.
The bill, named Bailey's Law after Bailey McCourt, who was killed in a Kelowna parking lot on July 4, 2025, by her estranged ex-husband, now classifies murders involving documented coercive control as first-degree offences and imposes life sentences for certain manslaughter convictions with no parole eligibility for at least 10 years. Courts will also be required to consider life imprisonment in cases of manslaughter involving intimate partner violence.
The bill's passage marks one of the fastest legislative turnarounds on the issue. Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola MP Frank Caputo sponsored the bill, which completed its first reading in the House of Commons on September 18, 2025, passed through the chamber by April 27, 2026, and cleared the Senate in less than a month.
At a Parliament Hill press conference Wednesday, Caputo called the amendments "the most consequential change in modern legal history when it comes to the law of intimate partner violence." He credited the "tenacity" of Bailey's family for driving the rapid passage.
Debbie Henderson, a family member and spokesperson, named several B.C. women who died in reported intimate partner violence incidents, including Tatjana Stefanski, Laura Gover, Pamela Jarvis and Alexa Knodel. "What happened to them is absolutely unacceptable," she said. "We live in a country where we should be safe and protected."
The law will come into force in 30 days.