(Quebec) Quebec is taking another step towards the deployment of contact bracelets to protect victims of domestic violence.
Posted at 3:58 p.m.
On Wednesday, Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault tabled Bill 24 amending the Quebec Correctional System Act.
This bill follows up on the Minister’s commitment to provide Quebec with an electronic wristband system this spring.
If passed, Bill 24 will make Quebec the seventh jurisdiction in the world to implement such a program, said Ms.me Guilbault, which aims to eventually use 500 bracelets.
“It puts us at the forefront,” she said at a press conference.
“In the pre-project (in Quebec), we will have a first sample of 16 bracelets, in the fall, we will have 134 new ones and next spring 350 others.
“With turnover, we think that 500 will be enough […]but it’s important to say that if we need more, […] we can have more,” she explained.
The device could be imposed on criminals by judges, but also by the Quebec Commission for Conditional Liberation or directors of detention facilities.
In any case, “it will require the consent of the victim, very important”.
However, it cannot be used in the case of an offender sentenced to serve a sentence in a federal penitentiary (more than two years).
On this subject, Mr.me Guilbault said he hoped that Ottawa would follow in the footsteps of the Quebec government. She intends to raise the subject with her federal counterpart at their next meeting.
The anti-reconciliation bracelet works by geolocation. It consists of two parts, a bracelet, worn by the offender, and a device given to the victim.
When the perpetrator of domestic violence approaches the victim, the device sends an alert signal to the police, who then make sure to secure the victim.
Geneviève Guilbault talks about encouraging results in countries that have adopted the anti-reconciliation bracelet, such as Australia and Spain.
According to her, these countries are witnessing a “significant” reduction in harm. “Since they have been using it in Spain, none of the people who have used the bracelet have been killed.
“The important thing is to protect women. We will save lives,” she said.
In 2021, at least 18 femicides were committed in Quebec, a phenomenon that has been exacerbated by the confinement linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Statistics Canada estimates that almost half (47%) of female homicide victims were killed by an intimate partner, compared to 6% for males, based on 2019 figures.