This MP says hundreds shared stories of coercive control, asks House to pass bill

An NDP MP says she hopes the polarized House of Commons will continue to put partisanship aside to pass her bill to criminalize coercive control this week, after hearing hundreds of personal stories about intimate partner violence.

An NDP MP says she hopes the polarized House of Commons will continue to put partisanship aside to pass her bill to criminalize coercive control this week, after hearing hundreds of personal stories about intimate partner violence.

Laurel Collins says legislators from across party lines have supported her private member's bill, which seeks to criminalize the type of behaviours experts say abusers often use to isolate and instil fear in their victim.

"The House of Commons has gotten incredibly divisive and this has been an example of MPs putting their partisan politics aside to try and make the lives of survivors and victims of intimate partner violence better," she said in a recent interview.

"This is what politics should be."

Collins, who represents Victoria, shared some of what her own sister endured when introducing her bill last November. She recounted how her sister had turned up at her door in tears after her partner had taken away her cellphone, bank cards and keys to try and stop her from leaving.

The MP said she's heard from hundreds more people who have shared their own experiences or those of someone they love.

"The thread that I hear again and again is that survivors of coercive control and intimate partner violence do not want this to happen to other people," she said.