Keira’s Law brings hope for change in child protection against domestic violence

There was a moment of reflection on achieving a new law that aims to better protect children from domestic violence in Burlington on Thursday.

Last month, Keira’s Law, named after a four-year-old girl found dead in Milton in 2020, recieved royal assent. And the family and other supporters see it as just the beginning of change in the court system.

Jennifer Kagan calls it an achievement, but a needed step, as she takes a moment to celebrate a new law named after her daughter Keira Kagan.

“We really tried to do her legacy a justice, which is incredibly hard to do,” said Jennifer.

The four-year-old’s mother and family were joined by supporters at Millcroft Park Thursday afternoon, to praise government efforts to pass Keira’s Law, which mandates training on the risks of intimate partner violence and coercive control — also involving children.

Jennifer says Keira’s Law is a very important step. She believes in getting people who care about domestic violence involved, so they can make a bigger difference together.

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In 2020, Keira was found dead along with her father at the bottom of Milton’s Rattlesnake Point in an apparent murder-suicide weeks after her mother filed for an emergency motion.

Following the death, private bills in Ottawa and Queens Park were put forward. The law received royal assent last month.

“For a private members bill, federally, it moved with lightning speed through the house and the senate,” said MP Pam Damoff. “It should’ve been done long time ago.”

Attorney and Keira’s stepfather, Phillip Viater says he is seeing some progress made already but will take time to see its real impact.

Viater says it’s a slow process and it wont be an overnight process, but he received none stop contact with people across the country and even lawyers about how they are going to reference Keira’s Law.

Ontario’s bill 102 also states that every year in February, the attorney general will be receiving updated reports on how many judges and justices of the peace received training.

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