A committee appointed by the Quebec Coroner’s office is recommending investment in raising awareness and training health-care and law enforcement professionals to prevent deaths linked to intimate partner violence.
In a report released Monday, the committee for reviewing deaths related to intimate partner violence released a set of 13 recommendations for various government agencies including public awareness programs and education modules for health-care professionals, medical students and police forces in the province.
Related:
The committee published its report after studying 10 incidents of intimate partner violence in which there were 16 deaths, including two murders, 12 murder-suicides and one suicides. Both the murder victims were women, while five of the 12 murder-suicide victims were women. All the perpetrators were men.
The report said intimate partner violence was widespread phenomenon around the globe with the World Health Organization calling violence against women, a major and persistent public health issue. In Quebec, there have been 10 femicides cases so far in 2026 and is expected to surpass the number of cases in 2025.
The committee said that the most common risk factors in the cases analyzed were: a history of violence, loss of control over victim, recent or impending separation, escalation of violence, victim fear and substance abuse.
The committee recommended the Secrétariat à la condition féminine and the Conseil du statut de la femme to increase their awareness efforts towards the public as well as witnesses about their responsibility towards victims and the perpetrators of violence.
The report also asks the Ministry of Justice to collaborate with SOS violence conjugale to provide resources to relatives or witnesses of intimate partner violence in situations were there is a risk of murder or suicide.
In its analysis, the committee found that victims of domestic violence in most cases had contact with institutions such as police or health-care services.
“All actors of the health network are in a good position to detect signs of intimate partner violence both among victims and among perpetrators, even if the consultation is motivated by another health problem, whether that problem is of a physical or mental health nature,” the report said.
The committee recommends Santé Québec to develop education programs for medical students and for social workers and interventions to better identify risks of homicide and suicide in the context of domestic violence.
They also recommend collaboration with shelters and second-stage housing to train professionals about the links between traumatic brain injury and intimate partner violence.
The committee said that sharing information between professionals and organizations was critical in the prevention of intimate partner violence.
They recommend that the Office des professions raise awareness among professional orders in the province to train their members about situations when the confidentiality clauses need not apply when it comes to preventing deaths.
“Professional secrecy is not an absolute right,” the report said. “Over time, laws concerning professional orders and those relating to the protection of personal information have introduced provisions to allow the communication of confidential information without the consent of the person concerned in situations where there is reasonable grounds to believe that an imminent danger of death or serious injury, or suicide, threatens a person or a group of persons, notably in certain situations of intimate partner violence.”
The Coroner’s committee recommends the Ministry of Interior Security to publicize all the legal provisions and mechanisms available to police forces in the province which allow exchange of information and referrals.
Earlier this month, Quebec adopted the Gabie Renaud law which allows anyone who fears for their safety or that of their child to obtain information about the history of domestic violence of a current or former intimate partner.
Two of the 10 incidents studied by the committee concern First Nations or Inuit women.
The committee said the Ministry of Justice should collaborate with Inuit organizations to develop plan to implement recommendations from a 2022 report which identified “various structural and functional shortcomings that hinder the effectiveness of the judicial system.” There were 60 recommendations made as part of the report.
They also recommended the ministry to support CAVAC Sapummijiit which manages court appearances in the itinerant court in Nunavik, so that the organization “can enhance support and contacts upstream and downstream of the assistance currently offered during itinerant court dates, taking into account the reality of northern villages and communication issues with victims of intimate partner violence in order to ensure their safety effectively and in a timely manner.”
