OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized intimate partner violence as a distinct legal basis for pursuing civil damages.

The top court’s ruling today comes in the case of a woman who suffered years of physical and emotional abuse by her husband during a 16-year marriage.

The court says intimate partner violence is a pernicious social ill deserving the full attention of the law.

It says the existing torts of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress fail to remedy the specific wrong to dignity, autonomy and equality that intimate partner violence creates.

The judgment says this form of violence is not limited to physical or psychological abuse, but includes all abusive behaviour by one intimate partner to coerce and control the other, effectively depriving them of their autonomy.

It says this could involve egregious acts of physical and psychological violence, as well as tactics of isolation, manipulation, humiliation, surveillance, economic abuse, sexual coercion and intimidation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2026.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press