Naming the Crime: Why Canada Must Legally Recognize Femicide
In a call for reform, Lais Gomes argues that recognizing femicide is not only about punishing perpetrators; it’s also about intervening in intergenerational harm and treating gender-based violence as a public health and mental health crisis.
Violence thrives in silence, and when legal systems fail to name gender-based killings for what they are, that silence becomes state-sanctioned.
In 2014, while offering pro bono family law support in Brazil, I met a woman attempting to leave an abusive relationship. What she shared with me has stayed with me since: when she was six years old, her father killed her mother, and then took his own life. Raised by both sides of the family, she lived in the contradiction of unspoken trauma.
On her father’s side, she was told: “He killed for love. She cheated on him.”
On her mother’s side: “That wasn’t love. You don’t kill someone you love.”
But no one gave her the words to name what happened. She grew up in confusion. And, years later, entered another abusive relationship. Because when violence is not named, it is not interrupted. And what remains unchallenged, the society repeats.
That story is not an outlier, it reflects a systemic failure, and a legislative gap that extends far beyond Brazil’s borders. It applies in Canada, too.
Why Naming Violence Matters
In 2015, Brazil passed legislation classifying femicide, the killing of a woman because of her gender, as a legally distinct and aggravated form of homicide. The law increased penalties when the killing involved pregnancy, disability, or children present, and mandated specific protective measures.
More than a criminal law reform, the law gave language to survivors and legitimacy to their experiences. Naming the crime didn’t just guide prosecution, it changed the national conversation.
In Canada, we haven’t made that leap. Despite significant advocacy, femicide remains legally undefined in our Criminal Code.
Canada’s Silence — and Its Cost
Between 2011 and 2021, over 1,100 women and girls were killed in Canada, most by current or former intimate partners. In 2024 alone, 142 women and girls have been killed, many in acts of domestic violence, and many in circumstances that reflect clear gender-based motivation.
Yet, our legal framework does not call it femicide. Instead, the crimes are processed generically.
This absence of legal recognition has three major consequences:
- Invisibility in data and policy — without a legal name, it’s harder to track patterns or tailor prevention.
- Gaps in prosecution — sentences may not reflect the true nature of the crime.
- Cultural denial — when the law fails to name the problem, so does the public narrative.
The Missed Opportunity in R v. Stairs, 2022 SCC 11
In R. v. Stairs, the Supreme Court of Canada examined whether a warrantless search violated Section 8 of the Charter. Police responded to a civilian report of domestic violence. The accused had previously been reported for abuse. Fearing for the woman’s safety, officers entered the home, found her with visible injuries, and discovered methamphetamine.
Three justices dissented, arguing that the search lacked sufficient imminence. A concurring opinion by Justice Côté noted the ambiguity in the legal framework surrounding such searches. Although the majority recognized the seriousness of domestic violence, the ruling fell short of establishing clear, victim-centered guidelines for law enforcement. The Court’s emphasis on privacy — while critical in most contexts — arguably overprotects the accused in intimate partner violence cases, where hesitation could cost lives.
R. v. Stairs reveals how Canadian jurisprudence still hesitates to fully centre the lived realities of gender-based violence.
What the World Is Doing
Globally, 29 countries define femicide in law. Seventeen of them are in Latin America.
Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Brazil have all implemented laws specifically targeting femicide, accompanied by prevention programs, gender training for law enforcement, and public awareness campaigns.
These laws have shown results, not only in accountability, but in increasing reporting rates and survivor protection.
The Overlooked Victims: Children and Intergenerational Harm
According to Statistics Canada, over 50 per cent of femicide cases involve children witnessing or being exposed to the violence. These children often carry the trauma for life, facing elevated risks of anxiety, depression, behavioral issues, and even replicating cycles of violence in adulthood.
Recognizing femicide, therefore, is not only about punishing perpetrators. It’s also about intervening in intergenerational harm, and treating gender-based violence as a public health and mental health crisis, not merely a private family matter.
What Canada Can Do
Legal reform is overdue. Here’s what’s needed:
- Amend the Criminal Code to define femicide under Section 222 as a distinct form of culpable homicide;
- Mandate gender-sensitive police training, including expansion of female-led investigative units;
- Require rehabilitation programs for offenders that address gender equity and prevention;
This Is About More Than Law — It’s About Narrative
The law is more than a tool of punishment, it is a symbol of what a society recognizes, values, and refuses to tolerate.
Naming femicide would give police and prosecutors a clearer legal mandate. It would allow national institutions to track data, guide training, and resource intervention. It would offer survivors and families the dignity of being seen and shift public understanding from viewing gender violence as a private tragedy to recognizing it as a structural injustice.
We need a law that reflects the reality on the ground. It could save lives. Because silence kills. And naming the crime is the first step to prevent it.
Breaking the silence is how we begin to change the system.
