It's official: men guilty of domestic violence whose cases are currently before the courts are now likely to be subject to the anti-relationship bracelet, a Canadian first that will be deployed initially in Quebec only.

• Read also – Violent spouses will be monitored by the private sector

• Read also - Geolocation bracelets already used elsewhere

Quebec thus becomes the first jurisdiction in the country and the seventh in the world to implement this system aimed at providing greater peace of mind to women who have suffered violence.

The Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault, had made it one of her priorities. She spoke Friday morning of a “revolution” that was dear to her.

“Each time we install an anti-reconciliation bracelet on a violent spouse, it is the life of a woman that we will potentially save,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

The announcement took place in the Quebec detention facility, formerly the Orsainville prison. As the program is the subject of a “pre-project” in Quebec City, only this establishment and the Quebec courthouse will be able to issue this type of release condition to an offender, for the first few months.

The deployment will take place gradually in the rest of the province until the fall of 2023.

The goal is in particular to prevent femicides, which became a real scourge last year with 26 women killed in 2021 in Quebec, the vast majority in a marital context.

Since the beginning of 2022, already five probable feminicides are under investigation.

Consent

The consent of the victim will always be required to proceed. It will be geolocated using an application on a cell phone, while the offender, for his part, will have to wear a much more restrictive device, namely an ankle bracelet, also geolocated.

Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, a private company will monitor the movements of bracelet wearers.

As soon as one of them enters a “pre-alert zone” around the victim, the central will contact him. If he nevertheless ventures into the closer “alert zone”, then the police will be sent immediately to the victim to secure him as well as to the offender to arrest him.

The government's intention to implement this device was confirmed in December 2021, following a feasibility study. In March, Bill 24 amending the Act respecting the correctional system of Quebec was adopted in the National Assembly to make everything possible.

Only the judicial authorities and the correctional services of the province will be able to impose the anti-reconciliation bracelet. Ms. Guilbault expressed the wish that the federal government follow suit in Quebec so that criminals sentenced to a federal sentence can also be subject to it.

The entire program is valued at $41 million over five years.

More details to come...

SOS conjugal violence