Getting info on a partner's criminal history still too hard in Alberta, women's advocates say

WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.

Last year, Alberta was the second province to enact a law meant to curb domestic abuse by allowing people to file applications for information about their intimate partner.

But a number of hurdles — including waiting weeks for information, relying on police as gatekeepers and having to sign confidentiality agreements — are discouraging many Albertans from doing so.

Clare's Law, which allows people worried for their safety to discreetly ask for information about their partners' history, was enacted on April 1, 2021. Since enacting the law, the Alberta government has received on average more than one request per day.

Alberta Council of Women's Shelters (ACWS) executive director Jan Reimer says it is still too difficult for people at risk of domestic violence to get access to their partners' criminal records — even though it's supposed to be public information.

"It's always up to the woman to keep herself safe," Reimer said. "And we really have not had large success in systems keeping women safe. [The systems] seem to be more often siding with the perpetrator, in protecting his privacy."

Advocates who helped craft Clare's Law in Alberta insist it is helping, as it connects more women with counsellors, shelters and other supports they wouldn't have sought on their own.

Clare's Law originated in the U.K. in 2014 and is named for Clare Wood, a woman killed by her ex-boyfriend. She was unaware of his violent past.

Alberta and Saskatchewan were the first places to introduce it in Canada, and other provinces and territories are watching how it develops.

Newfoundland and Labrador passed a similar law in 2019, but has not yet enacted it. Manitoba's government has promised to introduce one, while legislators in Ontario and B.C. tried, and failed, to introduce iterations of Clare's Law through private members' bills.

At least four out of every 10 Canadian women say they've been abused by an intimate partner, according to the federal government. Although anyone can experience domestic violence, nearly 80 per cent of people who reported it to police in 2019 were women.

Alberta government leaders have said they believe Clare's Law will save lives and reduce rates of domestic violence in the province.

But one Edmonton woman who survived two horrific attacks from her former partner says politicians have oversold its usefulness.

Her experience last year in trying to get information about her assailant's past exemplifies the limitations of the law that some advocates had warned would be problematic.