{"id":3736,"date":"2025-10-28T00:45:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T03:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/28\/extremely-disappointed-family-of-slain-kelowna-b-c-woman-calls-for-action-on-intimate-partner-violence\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T00:45:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T03:45:53","slug":"extremely-disappointed-family-of-slain-kelowna-b-c-woman-calls-for-action-on-intimate-partner-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/10\/28\/extremely-disappointed-family-of-slain-kelowna-b-c-woman-calls-for-action-on-intimate-partner-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Extremely disappointed\u2019: Family of slain Kelowna, B.C., woman calls for action on intimate partner violence"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>British ColumbiaThe family of a woman killed in Kelowna, B.C., say they are \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d in the B.C. NDP government for not supporting a federal private member\u2019s bill that aims to toughen charges and detention policies for those accused of intimate partner violence. Federal Minister Sean Fraser says Liberal government plans to introduce bill on intimate partner violenceEmily Fagan  \u00b7 CBC News  \u00b7 Posted: Oct 27, 2025 8:45 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesFederal Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Sean Fraser, stands with B.C. Premier Eby and other officials at a press conference about new federal bail reform legislation. (Emily Fagan\/CBC)The family of a woman killed in Kelowna, B.C., say they are \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d in the B.C. NDP government for not supporting a federal private member\u2019s bill that aims to toughen charges and detention policies for those accused of intimate partner violence.Bailey McCourt was allegedly murdered earlier this year by her ex-husband in what police called a \u201chighly visible and tragic event\u201d that left another person with serious injuries, just hours after he was released on bail for assault.In a statement shared by the B.C. Conservatives, Debbie Henderson, McCourt\u2019s aunt, said the NDP has not supported Bill C-225 \u2014 also known as Bailey\u2019s Law \u2014 a private member\u2019s bill put forward by Frank Caputo, Conservative MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola.She also said B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma had yet to follow through on her promise to meet with the McCourt family. \u201cOur family has lived the consequences of a system that fails to protect victims, and we will not settle for lip service from political leaders,\u201d  Henderson said in the statement.  CBC News reached out to the family of Bailey McCourt, but did not hear back prior to publication.In a Monday press conference, Eby praised the Liberal government\u2019s new legislation that would make repeat, violent offenders sentences tougher and bail more difficult to obtain, and said his government is continuing to call for additional reforms the McCourt family has asked for. He also said he planned to meet with the McCourt family on Monday afternoon.\u201cAs we look forward to continued work with the federal government, conversations about intimate partner violence will continue,\u201d Eby said.\u201cWe continue to advocate for the reforms the family is asking for related to a presumption around first-degree murder. We raised that with the minister today.\u201dWhen asked why the legislation did not include some changes the McCourt family had called for \u2014 such as mandating first-degree murder charges in cases of intimate partner homicide \u2014  federal Minister of Justice Sean Fraser said they are under discussion as part of another bill the Liberal government expects to table in the coming weeks.\u201cThat bill is going to include a series of different measures to touch on intimate partner violence, sexual offences, protecting kids online, and a number of others,\u201d Fraser said.He also noted that one of his party\u2019s election promises was instating presumptive first-degree murder charges for femicide cases.MLAs Gavin Dew, Kristina Loewen, and Macklin McCall expressed disappointment with the B.C. NDP\u2019s lack of support for a federal private member\u2019s bill addressing intimate partner violence. (Emily Fagan\/CBC)Gavin Dew, B.C. Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission, said he feels Eby is \u201cplaying politics\u201d by not supporting Bill C-225.He said he feels the federal Liberals\u2019 bail reform legislation is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to protect victims of intimate partner violence.\u201cIf there\u2019s another bill coming, it is because the federal government is trying to find a way to defang Frank Caputo\u2019s bill, which is Bailey\u2019s Law,\u201d he said.Dew was also critical of Eby for not meeting with the McCourt family sooner.This summer, McCourt\u2019s father and stepmother shared a letter with four key recommendations to the federal government in an effort to prevent future deaths.Eby told CBC News at the time that he gave the letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney.When reflecting Monday on the new bail reform legislation, Eby said he knows British Columbians feel it is \u201ccritically important\u201d that changes are made to prevent future killings by intimate partner violence.\u201cWe know that the laws have to change,\u201d he said.\u201cWe are very grateful that the federal government has heard our concerns, worked with us collaboratively, and has introduced a bill that responds to those anxieties British Columbians rightly feel.\u201dABOUT THE AUTHOREmily Fagan is a journalist based in Victoria, B.C. She was previously a staff reporter for the Toronto Star. Her work has also appeared in publications including the Globe and Mail, Vice, and the Washington Post. You can send her tips at emily.fagan@cbc.ca.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British ColumbiaThe family of a woman killed in Kelowna, B.C., say they are \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d in the B.C. NDP government for not supporting a federal private member\u2019s bill that aims to toughen charges and detention policies for those accused of intimate partner violence. Federal Minister Sean Fraser says Liberal government plans to introduce bill on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3737,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,118,1],"tags":[120,116],"class_list":["post-3736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-british-columbia","category-indigenous","category-uncategorized","tag-british-columbia","tag-indigenous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}