Toronto, February 11, 2025 – This week, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) will appear before the Supreme Court of Canada to support access to justice for survivors of family violence.
On February 11 and 12, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, a case that could significantly increase access to financial compensation for survivors of intimate partner violence.
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.
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.
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.
“Domestic violence is an epidemic that disproportionately impacts women, particularly those facing intersecting forms of marginalization. Its physical and psychological effects can place a significant financial burden on survivors,” says Pam Hrick, LEAF Executive Director & General Counsel and co-counsel for LEAF in this case. “We need effective and proportionate legal responses to these harms. Recognizing a new tort of family violence would be a step in the right direction.”
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.
“This is an access to justice issue. A tort of family violence provides an avenue for survivors to access compensation for the harms they suffered, and to receive validation from the legal system that those harms matter,” says Hrick.
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 145 cases that have helped shape the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To find out more, visit www.leaf.ca.
