Breanna Broadfoot’s family disappointed political bickering derailed federal meeting on intimate partner violence
CTV
Barely two weeks after his 17-year-old daughter Breanna Broadfoot was killed in London by an act of intimate partner violence (IPV), Brett Broadfoot had hoped a parliamentary committee meeting would initiate steps to protect victims by keeping offenders behind bars.
Barely two weeks after his 17-year-old daughter Breanna Broadfoot was killed in London by an act of intimate partner violence (IPV), Brett Broadfoot had hoped a parliamentary committee meeting would initiate steps to protect victims by keeping offenders behind bars.
Instead, Wednesday’s meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women was cut short by partisan politicking.
“I guess the only word I can really come up with is just – disappointing,” Broadfoot told CTV News. “To derail [a meeting] that was supposed to be specifically for IPV was extremely disappointing for us.”
Members of Parliament who sit on the committee were summoned back to Ottawa by Conservative MP Chair Shelby Kramp-Neuman to hear expert testimony about violence against women, including the killing of Broadfoot in London.
The experts included London-based advocate to end male violence against women Megan Walker.
Opening statements by the experts included arguments that the current justice and bail system in Canada is insufficient to protect victims of IPV.
But after the three experts each spoke for five minutes, the meeting was derailed when Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld brought forward an unrelated motion about abortion rights.
