Every year in Canada, domestic violence claims lives, destroys families, and leaves lasting trauma in its wake. Protection orders—court orders prohibiting abusers from contacting or approaching their victims—represent one of the primary legal tools available to survivors seeking safety. Yet the system designed to protect often fails those most at risk. Understanding how protection orders work, where they fall short, and how they might be improved is essential for creating genuine safety for survivors of intimate partner violence.
Understanding Domestic Violence
Domestic violence encompasses a range of behaviours used to maintain power and control over an intimate partner or family member. Physical violence is the most visible form, but abuse also includes psychological and emotional manipulation, financial control, sexual coercion, stalking, and harassment. Coercive control—a pattern of behaviour that strips victims of autonomy and independence—may leave no physical marks while profoundly damaging survivors' wellbeing.
The statistics are sobering. Police report hundreds of thousands of intimate partner violence incidents annually, though many more go unreported. Indigenous women, women with disabilities, and women in rural areas face elevated risks. Children in homes with domestic violence experience lasting developmental impacts. The economic costs, including healthcare, justice system involvement, and lost productivity, run into billions of dollars.
Leaving an abusive relationship is the most dangerous time for survivors. Abusers may escalate violence when they perceive loss of control. The period immediately following separation sees heightened risk of homicide. This reality underscores the critical importance of effective protection mechanisms.
Types of Protection Orders
Emergency Protection Orders
Emergency protection orders (EPOs) can be obtained quickly, often within hours, when there is immediate risk. In some jurisdictions, they can be issued outside of court hours by designated officials. EPOs typically provide short-term protection—often 28 days—and must be followed by court review. Their purpose is to create immediate safety while longer-term measures are arranged.
Peace Bonds
Peace bonds are criminal court orders that can require someone to keep the peace and follow specific conditions, such as staying away from a particular person or place. They do not require a criminal conviction and can be obtained when there are reasonable grounds to fear violence or harm. Peace bonds typically last up to one year and can be renewed.
Restraining Orders
Restraining orders, issued in civil family court proceedings, can prohibit contact, require distance, and restrict access to shared property or children. They are typically connected to divorce, separation, or custody proceedings. The specific terms and duration vary by province and judicial discretion.
No-Contact Conditions
When abusers are charged with criminal offences, courts may impose no-contact conditions as part of bail or sentencing. These conditions are enforceable through the criminal justice system, with breach potentially resulting in additional charges and detention.
How the System Fails
Enforcement Gaps
A protection order is only as good as its enforcement. When abusers violate orders, police must respond effectively, and courts must impose meaningful consequences. Too often, breaches go unenforced. Police may minimize violations or urge survivors to give abusers another chance. Prosecutors may decline to pursue breach charges or accept minimal penalties. Abusers learn that orders can be violated with impunity.
Enforcement is particularly challenging in smaller communities where anonymity is impossible, in rural areas where police response times are long, and in situations where abusers have connections to law enforcement or the justice system.
Access Barriers
Obtaining protection orders requires navigating legal systems that can be intimidating, confusing, and inaccessible. Survivors may not know what orders are available or how to apply. Court processes may require appearing in the same building as the abuser. Legal representation may be unaffordable, and legal aid may be unavailable or inadequate.
Marginalized survivors face additional barriers. Indigenous women may distrust systems that have historically harmed their communities. Immigrants may fear that seeking protection will jeopardize their status. People with disabilities may encounter physical and communication barriers. Those in rural areas may lack access to courts and services.
Procedural Trauma
Court processes can retraumatize survivors. Cross-examination by abusers or their counsel may feel like continued abuse. Requirements to prove abuse may not accommodate the patterns of coercive control that lack discrete incidents. Judges may not understand domestic violence dynamics and may make decisions that endanger survivors and children.
Custody and Access Complications
When abusers are also parents, protection orders intersect with custody and access arrangements in complex ways. Courts may prioritize children's relationships with both parents, even when one parent is abusive. Exchange of children for access visits creates ongoing contact that protection orders are meant to prevent. Abusers may use custody proceedings to continue controlling survivors.
Lethality Assessment
Not all domestic violence situations carry equal risk. Evidence-based lethality assessment tools can help identify survivors at highest risk of homicide. When these tools are not used, or when high-risk situations are not matched with intensive interventions, the most vulnerable survivors may not receive the protection they need.
Improving the System
Specialized Courts and Services
Specialized domestic violence courts bring together trained judges, prosecutors, and support services focused on domestic violence cases. Specialized approaches can improve survivor safety, ensure better understanding of abuse dynamics, and coordinate responses. Where they exist, specialized courts have shown promising results, though they remain unavailable in many jurisdictions.
Integrated Case Management
When protection orders, criminal charges, and family court matters proceed in isolation, gaps and contradictions emerge. Integrated approaches that coordinate across these systems can provide more coherent protection. High-risk case coordination tables bring together police, Crown counsel, victim services, and other agencies to manage the most dangerous cases.
Survivor-Centered Approaches
Systems designed around survivor needs—with accessible information, reduced procedural requirements, flexible processes, and ongoing support—can improve safety outcomes. Independent legal advice, courtroom support, and help navigating the system make protection orders more accessible and effective.
Accountability for Abusers
Effective protection requires not only orders but meaningful consequences for violation. This includes consistent enforcement, appropriate sanctions for breach, and monitoring of high-risk offenders. Electronic monitoring, mandatory treatment programs, and enhanced supervision can supplement basic protection orders in high-risk cases.
Prevention and Upstream Intervention
Protection orders are reactive—they respond after abuse has occurred. Preventing domestic violence requires upstream interventions: education about healthy relationships, early identification of concerning patterns, economic supports that reduce dependency, and cultural change that does not tolerate abuse. These broader efforts complement but do not replace effective protection for those already experiencing violence.
Questions for Further Discussion
- What enforcement mechanisms would make protection orders more effective?
- How can legal systems be made more accessible to marginalized survivors?
- How should protection orders interact with custody and access arrangements when abusers are also parents?
- What role should technology (such as electronic monitoring) play in enforcing protection orders?
- How can prevention efforts reduce the need for protection orders in the first place?