No movement expected for months as Lydia’s Law languishes in committee

A recent posting to social media has renewed interest in “Lydia’s Law”, an intimate partner violence private members bill tabled by Waterloo NDP Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Catherine Fife.

Bill 189 also known as “Lydia’s Law” aims to increase transparency and accountability when it comes to the way sexual assault investigations are handled in Ontario courts. It was in response to reports of hundreds of sexual assault cases withdrawn or stayed because of administrative delays due to a lack of provincial funding.

Lydia’s Law was first tabled back in May, but before it could be debated in the legislature, the provincial government sent it to committee where it remains.

Kitchener South-Hespeler Conservative MPP Jess Dixon is the head of the Intimate Partner Violence sub-committee. She spoke to The Mike Farwell Show and said the broad scope of the committee means there are a whole host of issues that need to be addressed, not just Lydia’s Law.

“We’re looking at his holistically. If I was only going to be talking about backlogs in sexual assault cases, that ignores the fact that we have inefficiencies and slowdowns in other areas as well as intimate partner violence.”

But she said this is an issue that she is laser focused but the contents of the bill simply aren’t sufficient given the scope of the issue.

“I share a sense of urgency about dealing with the issues. A lot of Lydia’s Law is about accountability but accountability, honestly, isn’t good enough for me. I actually want to see improvement and movement. So, that’s what I’m focused on.”

Dixon was asked if her committee would be presenting its report when the legislature resumes in November. She said there likely wouldn’t be movement until spring 2025.

She added, “I’m not inclined to do this in a slap-dash fashion. Where we’re at right now is that we’ve finished phase one. I have phase two, phase 3 and phase 4.”

In a email to 570 NewsRadio Kitchener, Fife pushed back and wrote, “Rather than allowing public debate on Bill 189, the government has shuffled the bill to Committee, to die. Lydia’s Law has been languishing at Justice Committee for the past 120 days, and there’s been no information about when it will be called. This is a callous stalling tactic that the government uses to ensure that bills they don’t care about never become law.”

Fife added, “How can MPP Dixon, who is on the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, claim that the government is making progress? Now she’s saying that we won’t even see any movement until next spring at the earliest. We need justice for survivors of sexual assault, because justice delayed is justice denied.”

The fall seating of the Ontario Legislature isn’t scheduled to begin until Nov. 30.