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OntarioIn Progress44th Parliament, 1st Session

Bill 55 explained in plain English

Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025

Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.

At a glance

Jurisdiction
Ontario Legislature
Legislature / Parliament
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Session
44th Parliament, 1st Session
Bill number
Bill 55
Full title
Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025
Current status
In Progress
Latest event
Ordered for Second Reading
Last updated
Jun 5, 2025

Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 44th Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.

Chamber
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Current Stage
Ordered for Second Reading
Latest Activity
Jun 5, 2025
Plain-language explanation
In plain English (our explanation)

Our plain-language take, written for civic education.

Source: By PoliticalData.ca

AI-assisted, reviewed before publishing
Short Version

The Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025, requires Ontario to recognize intimate partner violence as an epidemic and establishes a committee to implement recommendations from the Renfrew County inquest and monitor government progress.

What It Means

This bill, titled the Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025, requires the Ontario government to officially recognize intimate partner violence as an epidemic in the province. It also mandates the Attorney General to create a Renfrew County Inquest Implementation Committee. This committee will review the 86 recommendations from the 2022 Renfrew County triple femicide inquest, decide how to implement them, and track the government's progress on these implementations. The committee will publish reports detailing its plans and updates on the government's progress, which will be presented to the Legislative Assembly and posted online.

What This Bill Does
  • Requires the Government of Ontario to recognize intimate partner violence as an epidemic in the province.
  • Mandates the Attorney General to establish a Renfrew County Inquest Implementation Committee within 30 days of the Act coming into force.
  • Specifies that the Committee will consist of an equal number of senior members from relevant ministries and community experts on intimate partner violence.
  • Assigns the Committee the functions of considering the 86 recommendations from the Renfrew County triple femicide inquest and determining steps for their implementation.
  • Requires the Committee to monitor the Ontario government's progress in implementing these recommendations.
  • Requires the Committee to publish reports: the first within 12 months of its establishment outlining implementation steps, and subsequent reports every 12 months detailing progress.
  • Ensures these reports are tabled in the Legislative Assembly and made available on a government website.
Who Is Affected
  • The Government of Ontario
  • The Attorney General
  • Ministries connected to the prevention of intimate partner violence
  • Community experts on intimate partner violence
  • The Legislative Assembly of Ontario
  • The public (through website availability of reports)
Rights, Duties, Or Obligations
  • The Government of Ontario has a duty to recognize intimate partner violence as an epidemic.
  • The Attorney General has a duty to establish the Renfrew County Inquest Implementation Committee.
  • The Committee has a duty to consider inquest recommendations, determine implementation steps, and monitor government progress.
  • The Committee has a duty to publish reports.
Important Dates
  • The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
  • The Attorney General must establish the Committee no more than 30 days after the Act comes into force.
  • The first report must be published no later than 12 months after the Committee is established.
  • Subsequent reports must be published every 12 months.
Financial Or Tax Impacts
  • The Lieutenant Governor in Council may determine expenses for ministry appointees and remuneration/expenses for community expert appointees to the Committee.
  • These expenses and remuneration will only apply if money has been appropriated by the Legislature.
Uncertainties Or Limits
  • The specific ministries connected to the prevention of intimate partner violence are not detailed.
  • The process and criteria for appointing members to the Committee by the Lieutenant Governor in Council are not specified.
  • The specific remuneration and expenses for Committee members are not detailed, only that they may be determined.
  • The exact content and format of the reports are not specified beyond outlining implementation steps and progress.
  • The legislation does not specify what happens if the Attorney General fails to establish the committee within the stated timeframe or if the committee fails to produce reports as required.
Laws Or Regulations Affected
Intimate Partner Violence Epidemic Act, 2025
enacted

Establishes new requirements for the Ontario government regarding the recognition of intimate partner violence and the implementation of inquest recommendations.

Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4

Commencement provision
commencement

Specifies that this Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Source: Section 3

Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.

Official text

Process Snapshot

Step 1
First reading
Jun 5, 2025
Step 2
Second reading
Date not listed
Step 3
Committee review
Not reached yet
Step 4
Third reading
Not reached yet
Step 5
Royal assent
Not reached yet

Vote Summary

No published recorded division

This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.

Sponsor
Kristyn Wong-Tam
New Democratic Party of Ontario | Toronto Centre
Jurisdiction
Ontario Legislature

No published representative vote breakdown

This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.

Official sources

Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.

How this data is sourced