Toronto, November 28, 2024 – Earlier this month, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) was granted leave to intervene in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, a case about access to financial compensation for intimate partner violence.
In 2022, an Ontario Superior Court judge created a new tort of family violence, allowing survivors of intimate partner violence to go to court and ask for compensation specifically for the pattern of violence they experienced. Historically, survivors of family violence seeking compensation would have to try and combine separate individual torts, such as assault, battery, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned this decision. It held that there was no need for a new tort and that survivors could just use the different torts that already existed. The Supreme Court will hear arguments about the new tort in February 2025.
LEAF will be intervening to argue that courts need to consider access to justice when deciding whether to create a new tort. LEAF will also argue that recognizing the tort of family violence would be consistent the values underlying section 7 of the Charter – the right to life, liberty, and security of the person – because it will help deter and provide compensation for family violence.
“Family violence disproportionately impacts women, particularly those facing intersecting forms of marginalization. It has significant physical, psychological, and financial costs. It’s systemic in nature: it often happens over years, with numerous incidents of violence and abuse from someone you are supposed to trust and rely on.” says Pam Hrick, Executive Director & General Counsel of LEAF and co-counsel for LEAF in this case. “Existing torts are not adequate to redress the distinct harms of family violence. Our legal system needs to provide effective responses to these harms, and recognizing a new tort of family violence would be one way to do so.”
LEAF is grateful to also be represented pro bono by co-counsel Maneesha Mehra (Carson Chousky Lein LLP) and Surinder Multani (Niman Mamo LLP) in this case.
LEAF’s interventions are guided, informed, and supported by a case committee with expertise in the relevant issues. We are grateful to this intervention’s case committee members (in alphabetical order): Natasha Bakht, Coline Bellefleur, Erika Chamberlain, Frances Chapman, and Sheila Gibb.
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
About the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is a national not-for-profit and charity that works to advance the equality rights of women, girls, trans, and non-binary people in Canada through litigation, law reform, and public legal education. Since 1985, LEAF has intervened in more than 130 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
