Canadian Criminal Code reforms making coercive control, sharing sexual deepfakes crimes

Reforms to Canada’s Criminal Code will make coercive control in intimate relationships and sharing sexual deepfakes without consent a crime, and categorize femicides and murders involving coercive control as first-degree murder.

The changes are part of The Protecting Victims Act, or Bill C-16, which received Royal Assent on June 18, 2026. It’s meant to offer better protection to victims and survivors of sexual violence, gender-based violence and intimate partner violence.

The newly passed Bill C-16 aims in part to prevent femicide by criminalizing coercive control, a behaviour that the Saskatchewan Domestic Violence Death Review identifies as a frequent precursor to domestic homicide.

“You may never have a hand violently put on you before, but 80 to 90 per cent of fatalities … it’s not always physical before, but there is always coercive control,” Ottenbreit said.

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