The Criminal Code will soon be updated to allow for a charge of first-degree murder against the killer of an intimate partner, regardless of whether the act was premeditated.

Bill C-225, which received royal assent in Parliament today, will amend the Criminal Code to make first-degree murder applicable to killings that happen as part of a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct.

The law also will help track incidents of intimate partner violence in Canada’s justice system by creating a specific offence for such attacks.

Conservative MP Frank Caputo put forward the private member’s bill, a type of legislation that rarely passes into law.

The legislation is named Bailey’s Law after Bailey McCourt, a 32-year-old B.C. woman who was killed last year.

Her alleged killer was a former partner who was released on bail hours before the daylight attack in a Kelowna parking lot.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2026.