National Post (National Edition)
Alberta pushes RCMP to comply with Clare's Law
Addressing domestic violence
EDMONTON • Alberta’s Justice Minister has appealed to Bill Blair, the Liberal public safety minister, to ensure the Royal Canadian Mounted Police comply with the province’s Clare’s Law that allows a person to find out if their romantic partner has a history of domestic abuse.
In a letter written to the public safety minister, Kaycee Madu, Alberta’s justice minister, asked Blair to work with the RCMP following the “extremely disappointing” news that police in Saskatchewan were not following similar legislation.
“We request that you immediately work with the RCMP to revisit any such decisions to ensure they help prevent intimate-partner violence by complying with Alberta’s Clare’s Law,” Madu’s letter says.
Madu, in an interview with National Post, said he wanted Blair to know that tackling domestic violence is a priority of the UCP government, so it concerns him when he hears there’s a risk of enforceability.
“It’s a serious concern for us,” Madu said.
In Saskatchewan, the first province to introduce a “Clare’s Law,” — named after a woman in the United
Kingdom who was killed by a former partner who police knew had a history of violence — the RCMP have not followed the provincial law, arguing both before and after its implementation that they’re hamstrung by federal privacy rules. Municipal police are complying.
As yet, Clare’s Law has not been put into force in Alberta. It is planned to be proclaimed, and enforceable, in April 2021.
When asked by the Post whether it intends to comply with the province’s legislation, a spokesman from the RCMP’s Alberta division said in an email the police agency is supportive of the law and they have working groups looking at the legislation.
“The working group will ensure that the application, assessment and disclosure processes are consistent across the province,” the email said. “It would be premature to give any definitive responses until this working group has completed their work.”
Introduced in October 2019, Clare’s Law was supposed to have come into effect in Alberta in early 2020 but was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alberta has, according to the province, the third-highest rates of domestic violence in Canada. Madu’s letter suggests the province is open to working with the RCMP to resolve any privacy issues.
The law, as with similar laws in other jurisdictions, means that a person, regardless of gender, may ask police for information about their prospective partner’s past. It also allows for a third party to request this information. The request is assessed by police, who determine whether or not it should be released.
The details regulating this process, Madu said, are being worked on.
“I am confident that we have taken care of any privacy concerns when developing this law,” said Madu.
Mary-Liz Power, a spokesperson for Blair, said in an email that the RCMP is supportive of Clare’s law and is “actively looking into whether any amendments to federal regulations could be proposed that would allow them to participate in Clare’s Law.”
“It is critical that the RCMP, as a federal institution, ensures its approach is wide-ranging and harmonious with various provincial frameworks, as well as the overarching federal privacy regime,” Power wrote.
There have been a handful of privacy concerns — and more general concerns — raised about such laws and their efficacy. For example, the YWCA Calgary worried that disclosure of past domestic abuse to a new partner might, inadvertently, reveal the identity of the person who had been previously abused. It’s also unknown what information might be disclosed under such requests. While a criminal record might be reasonable, critics have wondered about whether or not stayed or dropped charges might be disclosed, too.
“If they are serious, if Mr. Blair and the federal government are serious about tackling domestic violence … if that is the case, we should be removing any and all obstacles in the way of being able to enforce this law,” Madu said. “We can work with them and sort them out.”