05/15/2026
The much-anticipated Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia decision is out: https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/21505/index.do
In a 6-3 decision, the SCC recognized a new tort of “Intimate Partner Violence” rather than the tort of “Family Violence” which was created at trial. The broader Family Violence framing was rejected because the intimacy at issue between spouses or romantic partners is “qualitatively different” from that between other family members.
The SCC created a three-part test (para 184):
1. The wrongful conduct must occur during or after an intimate partnership.
(An intimate partnership is "a relationship of close personal connection, sustained over a period of time, and marked by mutual interdependence, care or commitment, and the presence of domestic, emotional, financial or physical intimacy" (para 102))
2. The defendant needs to have intentionally engaged in the “abusive conduct”.
(Abusive Conduct can include physical and sexual violence; emotional and psychological abuse, including verbal abuse; harassment, humiliation, and denigration; financial control, stalking, and surveillance; behaviour that isolates a partner from others, or that denies a partner access to educational, employment, and recreational opportunities; litigation abuse; and threatening conduct, including threatening to harm the children or take them away, and threatening to commit su***de (para 207)).
3. The conduct must constitute coercive control.
(Coercive Control refers to the cumulative impact of actions that deprive a plaintiff of their dignity, autonomy and equality in the relationship. The key feature is a breakdown of the plaintiff’s will, manifested through a diminished power to decide important matters in their own life or to meaningfully take part in decisions that affect the intimate partnership (para 208)).
The Court stated that objective proof of the above would result in an award of general damages. The claimant need not prove consequential damages. However, it is unclear whether this new tort requires expert evidence.
Application of these principles in the lower courts will be the story to watch.
