Last updated July 12, 2026 · This area of law is changing; the criminal offence is enacted but not yet in force. Verify current status before acting.
Short answer: Canada is in the middle of turning coercive control into a criminal offence. On June 18, 2026, Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, received Royal Assent, creating a new Criminal Code offence for coercive or controlling conduct in intimate partner relationships. The catch is timing: while most of the Act’s reforms take effect on July 18, 2026, the coercive-control provisions are scheduled to come into force no later than June 2028, to give police, prosecutors, and judges time to be trained. So as of mid-2026 the offence is on the books but not yet in effect. Importantly, coercive control already matters in a different arena: Canada’s Divorce Act defines family violence to include a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour, and family courts must weigh it when deciding parenting arrangements. This piece explains what coercive control is, where the law now sits, and how patterns of conduct are lawfully documented in family matters.
We work regularly on family and custody files, and coercive control is one of the hardest things clients try to describe: “nothing” has happened in the sense of a single dramatic incident, and yet they feel controlled, monitored, and afraid. The law is catching up to exactly that experience. Here is an honest map of where it stands.
What is coercive control?
Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour rather than a single act. It is the accumulation of conduct that isolates, intimidates, monitors, or dominates a partner, and much of it may not be physically violent at all. Commonly described tactics include:
- Monitoring a partner’s movements, phone, or finances, or tracking where they go.
- Isolating them from family, friends, or support networks.
- Controlling money, transportation, documents, or access to work.
- Threats, direct or implied, including toward children or pets.
- Repeated intimidation, surveillance, or interference that makes a person fear for their safety.
The reason it has been hard to prosecute historically is that the criminal law tends to focus on discrete incidents (a specific assault, a specific threat) while coercive control lives in the pattern. That is the gap the new legislation is designed to close.
Is coercive control a crime in Canada now?
It is enacted, but not yet in effect. Here is the sequence, accurately:
- Earlier attempts, including Bill C-332 in the previous Parliament, passed through stages with broad support but died when the 2025 election was called.
- In the current Parliament, coercive control was taken up again, including a private member’s bill, Bill C-225 (“Bailey’s Law”), and, decisively, the government’s Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, which received Royal Assent on June 18, 2026.
- Bill C-16 does several things: it creates the new coercive or controlling conduct offence for intimate partners, makes femicide first-degree murder, and criminalizes the sharing of sexual deepfakes, among other reforms.
- Timing: most of the Act’s provisions come into force on July 18, 2026, but the coercive-control offence is delayed until no later than June 2028 so that police, Crown prosecutors, and judges can be trained on how to investigate and prove a pattern-based offence.
So if you are reading this in 2026 or 2027: the offence exists in law, but a charge cannot yet be laid under it until the coming-into-force date. Canada is following jurisdictions like the United Kingdom and Ireland, which criminalized coercive control years earlier.
How the new offence is defined
Based on the enacted legislation, the offence targets a pattern of conduct where a person engages in coercive or controlling behaviour toward an intimate partner and either intends to cause the partner to believe their safety is threatened, or knows or is reckless as to whether the conduct would have that effect. The conduct contemplated includes any combination or repeated instances of:
- violence or threats toward the partner, or toward a person or animal known to them;
- sexually coercive conduct; or
- other conduct that could reasonably be expected to cause the partner to believe their physical or psychological safety is threatened.
Two features matter for anyone trying to understand it. First, it is explicitly about a pattern, not one bad day. Second, it reaches psychological safety, not only physical harm, which is what allows the non-violent tactics of control to be captured.
The precise statutory wording, elements, and defences will govern once the provision is in force, and courts will interpret it over time. Treat the description above as a plain-language summary, not the text of the section.
Does coercive control already matter in family court?
Yes, and this is the part clients most often miss while waiting on the criminal law. Since amendments to the federal Divorce Act came into force in 2021, “family violence” is defined to include a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour, whether or not it amounts to a criminal offence. When a court makes parenting decisions, it must consider the best interests of the child, and it must specifically take family violence into account, including coercive and controlling conduct and its impact on a parent’s ability to care for a child.
In practical terms, that means coercive control can already be legally relevant in a custody or parenting dispute today, well ahead of the 2028 criminal commencement. Ontario’s family law framework similarly directs attention to a child’s safety, security, and well-being. This is why documented, credible evidence of a pattern of behaviour can carry real weight in family proceedings: the concept is already built into the law that governs parenting.
For how evidence generally has to be gathered to be usable, see our Covert Surveillance page.
How is a pattern of coercive control documented lawfully?
This is where investigative work intersects with the issue, and where the boundaries matter enormously. Coercive control is, by nature, a pattern, which is exactly the kind of thing a disciplined, documented record is built to capture. In family matters, lawful documentation can include:
- Observable conduct captured through legal means: for example, a documented pattern of a party monitoring, following, or interfering, observed from public vantage points without trespass.
- A dated, organized record of incidents, communications the client themselves received, and third-party observations.
- Witness statements from people who have observed the conduct or its effects.
- Digital evidence the client has lawful authority over: for instance, messages sent to the client’s own device (see our Digital Forensics page on evidence handling).
And the hard limits, which we do not cross for any client:
- No unlawful surveillance. No trespass (Trespass to Property Act), no planting recording devices to intercept conversations the client is not part of (Criminal Code s. 184), and no GPS tracker on a vehicle the client does not own.
- Safety first, always. Coercive control frequently overlaps with the risk of serious harm. If there is immediate danger, that is a police matter. Call 911. Investigative documentation supports a legal case; it is never a substitute for a safety plan.
A responsible investigator working a file like this coordinates with the client’s family lawyer and, where appropriate, with police and victim services, not around them.
A note on safety and support
Coercive control is a serious and sometimes dangerous dynamic. If you recognize yourself in this article and you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are not in immediate danger but you are worried, it can help to speak with a family lawyer about your options, connect with a local support service, and keep your own safe, dated record of what is happening. You do not have to sort out the legal technicalities before reaching out for help.
Ontario legal context and the limits of this guide
This article reflects federal legislation enacted as of mid-2026: Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act (Royal Assent June 18, 2026), with the coercive-control offence scheduled to come into force by June 2028, and the existing Divorce Act definition of family violence relevant to parenting decisions. Criminal law is federal; family law in Ontario is shaped by both federal and provincial statutes. Because the criminal offence is enacted but not yet in force and will be interpreted by the courts over time, the details here will develop.
Not legal advice
This article is general information about investigative practice in Ontario, not legal advice. Laws change and every situation is different. For advice about your specific circumstances, consult a licensed Ontario lawyer or contact a licensed investigator directly. This article discusses intimate partner violence; if you are in immediate danger, call 911.
If you are dealing with a family or custody matter where a pattern of controlling behaviour is part of the picture, our Family and Child Custody team can talk through what can and can’t lawfully be documented in your situation.
Frequently asked questions
Is coercive control a crime in Canada?
It is becoming one. Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, received Royal Assent on June 18, 2026 and creates a new Criminal Code offence for coercive or controlling conduct toward an intimate partner. The coercive-control provisions are scheduled to come into force by June 2028 to allow police, prosecutors, and judges to be trained, so the offence is enacted but not yet in effect as of mid-2026.
What counts as coercive control under the new law?
The offence targets a pattern of conduct, not a single incident, intended to make an intimate partner believe their safety is threatened, or that the accused knows or is reckless would have that effect. The conduct can include violence toward a person or animal known to the victim, sexually coercive conduct, or other conduct reasonably expected to make the partner fear for their physical or psychological safety.
Does coercive control already matter in family court?
Yes. Even before the criminal offence takes effect, Canada’s Divorce Act defines family violence to include a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour, and courts must consider family violence when deciding parenting arrangements in a child’s best interests. So coercive control is already legally relevant in family and custody matters.
Can a private investigator document coercive control?
An investigator can lawfully help build a documented record of observable conduct, for example patterns of monitoring, following, or interference, using legal methods only. What an investigator cannot do is anything unlawful, such as trespassing or intercepting private communications. In situations involving immediate danger, contact police first; investigative documentation supports a case, it is not a substitute for safety.
What should I do if I think I’m experiencing coercive control?
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. Otherwise, consider speaking with a family lawyer about your options and reaching out to a support service. Keeping your own safe, dated record of incidents can help. A licensed investigator can assist with lawful documentation where appropriate, but your safety comes first.