On May 15, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Ahluwalia v Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16, establishing a new tort of intimate partner violence. This decision acknowledges the unique impact of family violence, focusing on the significant cumulative impact of coercive control and patterns of abuse within a family relationship.
There is now a framework for addressing the reality of family violence, which was not fully captured in previously established torts such as assault, battery, or the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Court summarized intimate partner violence as including “all abusive conduct by which one intimate partner coerces and controls the other, thus depriving them of their autonomy.
This includes egregious acts of physical and psychological violence, as well as tactics of isolation, manipulation, humiliation, surveillance, economic abuse, sexual coercion, and intimidation that can control and entrap intimate partners.” The lawyers at Calgary Family Law Associates are experts in understanding and assisting clients who have or are experiencing family violence and coercive control.