OTTAWA — A Senate committee has passed amendments to the government’s massive criminal justice legislation, Bill C-75, including changes that would require judges to consider harsher sentences for domestic violence against Indigenous women. The other requires sentencing judges to “consider the increased vulnerability” of female victims, especially Indigenous women, in domestic violence cases. She also called for automatic first-degree murder charges for homicides of Indigenous women. Dyck said she confined her amendments to cases of domestic violence because other crimes against Indigenous women fell outside the scope of Bill C-75. Recommending harsher punishments for those who commit violence against Indigenous women is controversial, in part because many of the offenders are Indigenous men — a group already over-represented in Canadian prisons.

Source: National Post May 30, 2019 23:17 UTC