The Supreme Court upheld the federal law expanding the privacy rights of complainants in sexual-assault trials
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a federal law that expands the privacy rights of complainants in sexual-assault trials, saying that Parliament was justified in trying to protect their dignity and encourage them to report crime.
It also gives complainants the right to be represented by counsel in “rape-shield” hearings on the admissibility of evidence about their sexual history.The majority made a strong statement about the historical difficulties facing women who report sexual assaults. Most victims of sexual offences still do not report the crimes, the majority said, and the new law balances the rights of the accused, the complainant and the public.
They said there is no right to “ambush” complainants, a point that prosecutors had made to the court. The result of the Criminal Code changes was that a defendant who possesses a complainant’s emails, texts, diaries or other personal records must obtain the permission of a judge in a pre-trial hearing to use them for their defence.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Suhail Akhtar found this expansion of a complainant’s right to participate in the process to be a violation of a fair trial two years ago. “This is not an incremental change but one that ruptures the foundation of the criminal trial process and removes an accused’s constitutional protections by providing their defence to a witness prior to trial,” he wrote.
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