WARNING: This article contains graphic details that may disturb some readers.
Survivors of violence and the families of victims have come together in a landmark civil suit filed against the Government of Canada, claiming years of inaction in response to intimate partner violence.
Brian Sweeney and Dan Jennings, both of Sault Ste. Marie, are among 15 plaintiffs in the case, which was filed Monday.
Both men lost their respective daughters to intimate partner violence in 2023.
The lawsuit filed on Monday seeks an order declaring the Charter rights of plaintiffs have been unjustifiably infringed and that the defendants have breached their obligations, among other claims. It also seeks $15 million for the Charter breaches, plus court costs.
Sweeney said the damages being sought are not nearly as important to him as the changes in the law that would come from the civil suit, if it were successful.
If damages are paid, Sweeney said they would be rolled right into advocacy efforts of Angie's Angels, a group that was set up by friends and family of his daughter Angie Sweeney shortly after her Oct. 23, 2023 death.
"If money comes out of this, then hey, all the power to Angie's Angels because our plan is to go right across the country, man. We're going to protect women and children," Sweeney said.
Still dealing with the grief of losing his daughter, Sweeney felt joining the lawsuit was an easy decision.
"We're standing our fu----- ground. Our ground is our women and children have to be protected and feel safe. I mean, my daughter wasn't safe in her own goddamn home. Where is that right? It's not right," he said.
"It's been a a tough road. Some days are good, some days are bad and other days are just fu----- unbelievable. But I just feel that I've got to keep doing what I'm doing because it'll make a difference in someone else's life that doesn't have to deal with this," he added.
Jennings lost his daughter Caitlin in July of 2023, when she was killed in her London, Ont. home. Her fiancé is currently awaiting trial for murder in relation to her death.
Shortly afterwards, he founded the group Caitlin's Heard in honour of his daughter.
He also said the damages being sought in the case are secondary to changes being made in the laws to prevent something terrible from happening to someone else's daughter. Instead, the case is about regular people coming together to force change.
"It all just shows that our survivor family is getting stronger. We are going to make sure people and survivors and victims are going to be heard — and not only heard, but listened to — and that these changes put survivors first and not the abusers," Jennings said.
He is also well aware that the case against his daughter's alleged killer is also approaching the Jordan Decision time limits.
Under the Jordan Decision, presumptive time limits of 18 and 30 months have been set for provincial or Superior court trials, respectively.
In recent years, many cases that approach or exceed those time limits are either settled with a plea deal or thrown out altogether.
"We're trying to get the change we want for other survivors. There's no question this Jordan Decision is not working in the way it was meant to. That being used as a way to actually settle cases — there's no excuse for that," Jennings said.
In a Monday press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court of Canada, lead plaintiff Cait Alexander said enough is enough.
"We have a crisis. Our justice system is not only failing victims, it is protecting criminals," said Alexander, founder of the victim advocacy group End Violence Everywhere.
At age 20, Alexander was involved with the justice system for the first time in a case against a Toronto photographer who was found guilty of sexually assaulting more than a dozen women.
"It took eight years to secure a guilty verdict — eight years. Nearly a decade of my life spent in the criminal system not just for myself, but to protect the next woman from that perpetrator," she said.
For many victims, engaging with the justice system in Canada often results in more pain and no justice.
Years after the sexual assault, Alexander almost lost her life in an attack by another man who she was dating when she tried to leave.
"He beat me with a wooden rolling pin, gouged my eyes out with his thumbs, split my head open in multiple places and tortured my entire body to discoloration of darkest bruises, save for a few centimetres of skin.
"And after about four hours of this, he took the dog for a walk covered in my blood," she said.
Alexander said she is only alive because friends swiftly responded to a two-word text message she sent while critically injured.
"The tactical team was deployed and my life was saved," she said.
Her attacker went on the run and once he was apprehended was almost immediately offered bail, forcing Alexander to leave the country for her own safety.
In the end, the case was dismissed due to Section 11B of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees people accused of crimes in Canada a speedy trial.
"He was charged with eight criminal offences, but not a single charge in my attempted murder case went to trial," Alexander said.
The attorney representing the plaintiffs is Kathryn Marshall of Toronto-based Marshall Law.
During the press conference, Marshall said the kinds of injustices laid out in the lawsuit happen to victims every day in Canada.
"We're standing in front of the Supreme Court of Canada today because it's very important to recognize that is a problem that started here and it's a problem that the government must fix," said Marshall.
"We're ready to go and we are ready to fight this and it's up to the government to do the right thing," she added.