This information was prepared by PREVNet, and reviewed by senior law students. It is intended to help minors who experience dating violence (i.e., teens under age 18), and the adults who support them, understand their potential legal rights and resources that may be available to them. It is intended to be a starting point as you gather information, and should not be considered formal legal advice. We welcome feedback and will update these summaries as more information becomes available, or as new legislation is enacted.
While we do our best to update this information regularly, this may not be an exhaustive or up-to-date list of all relevant Acts, regulations, policies, and legal considerations across the country. Depending on your situation, other legal remedies may be available. Consider seeking legal advice to learn more about your options. If legal advice does not feel like the right next step, you can also seek the support of a violence prevention advocate, to help you determine the course of action most appropriate to your own individual circumstances. A list of violence prevention helplines across the country can be found here.
Each province and territory has their own legislation or policies that may address the issue of teen dating violence. Find your province or territory in the menu to learn more about how the law may deal with teen dating violence experienced by minors where you live. However, it is important to note that there is no formal teen dating violence legislation anywhere in Canada. As such, the legislation we describe below represents law and policy that may apply in cases of dating violence, but whether a teen is eligible is ultimately at the discretion of the relevant court.
Under the federal Criminal Code, teen dating violence is not a specific criminal offence, but some behaviours that occur as part of this violence may be crimes. This can include (but is not limited to) physical assault, sexual assault, criminal harassment, sexual exploitation, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, youth ages 12 to 17 can be charged with Criminal Code offences for these types of behaviours. If you experience these types of behaviours and it feels safe to do so, you can consider reporting them to the police or RCMP. Reporting is not the right choice for everybody – consider talking to a violence prevention advocate first to get a better understanding of what reporting might look like, and what might happen if you choose to report, so you can make an informed decision about what is best for you.
Read Adolescent dating violence affects 1 in 3, but murky policies mean most adults don’t know how to help in The Conversation Canada.
