Keira Kagan's legacy lives on in bill to expand education for judges on domestic violence

In the years leading up to her daughter's death, Jennifer Kagan-Viater remembers an escalation in abusive behaviour by her ex-husband Robin Brown.

Though she'd left him years earlier, she worried about the safety of her daughter Keira during his visits with her.

"The abuse did not stop with separation, and it only got worse," Kagan-Vlater said. "Keira was used as a tool to get claws into me."

She said she went to the courts seeking protection for Keira, and expressed concerns about Brown's violent and coercive behaviour, but said she was met with hurdles.

"When I brought forward the evidence about abuse of Mr. Brown, we had a judge, for example, who said that domestic violence is not relevant to parenting and, 'I'm going to ignore it.'"

On Feb. 9, 2020 four-year-old Keira Kagan and Brown were both found dead at the base of a cliff at Rattlesnake Point Conservation area in Milton. Kagan-Viater believes it was a murder suicide. The warning signs she addressed in court, she said, were largely ignored.

"Judges don't know how to recognize the patterns of behaviour. Coercive control really is a pattern of harm, most commonly towards women and children," said Kagan-Viater.

A private members bill tabled this week aims to expand training for judges to include domestic violence and coercive control. Bill C-233, dubbed "Keira's Law" was tabled this week in the House of Commons by Liberal MP Anju Dhillon. The legislation comes after the federal government amended the Divorce Act last year to broaden the definition of family violence. Some experts welcome the bill but say there's still much more to do to ensure victims' voices are heard.

The bill would amend the Judges Act to establish seminars for judges on intimate partner violence and coercive control, in addition to other education they must go through.

"There's still a myth that if a woman says that she's been abused by her partner or her husband, that she's saying it in order to make his life difficult in a custody dispute," said Liberal MP Pam Damoff, who helped spearhead the bill.

"That [myth] persists, even though there have been numerous cases where it's documented that there's been abuse, but it's just not taken seriously."

The bill also includes an amendment to the Criminal Code that would allow for the attorney general to order an electronic monitoring device for an accused as a release condition. 

Damoff said she hopes this bill will signal a change in how intimate partner violence is dealt with in the courts.

The amended Divorce Act changes the definition of family violence to include non-physical abuse such as coercive or controlling behaviour, or behaviour that causes a family member to fear for their safety. Under the new act, a judge can now consider these factors when determining the best interests of a child.