Recent Developments in Domestic-Violence Law in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

With the demise of the Law Reform Commission of Canada, proposals for changes to our criminal-law processes at the federal level tend to be statutory in nature. In this edition’s column, I want to review some recent studies and reports in the area of domestic violence released in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. CANADA A recent call for proposals from the Public Health Agency of Canada contained an interesting review of the problem of domestic violence in Canada. The Public Health Agency of Canada is a governmental agency designed to “promote and protect the health of Canadians through leadership, partnership, innovation and action in public health.”1