Status of Women Committee on Dec. 11th, 2007

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Merci beaucoup.

Now we go over to Captain Jennifer Lynn Purdy, for five minutes, please.

[Captain Jennifer Lynn Purdy, As an Individual]

Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, merci.

I am a Captain in the Canadian Forces with 13 years' experience. I am in my fourth year of Medical School at the University of Ottawa. In May, I will graduate and be a physician.

In October 1995, l was 22 years old and a second-year officer cadet at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. l was a virgin. One night l went to an RMC party on base. l was drunk, and a third-year officer cadet asked me if l wanted to go for a walk. Unsuspectingly, l agreed and we left the party. Once we were by ourselves he sexually assaulted and raped me. As officer cadets at RMC, we are conditioned not to be weak in any way. l suppose l could not deal with what happened to me, so l suppressed the incident.

Nine years later, in October 2004, l was two months into my first year of medical school. l took a weekend-long self-defence course, something that l had always wanted to do without knowing why. During the course l had my first flashback. l have since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and two sleep disorders.

As soon as l had my flashbacks l researched the Criminal Code and discovered that there was no statute of limitations for sexual assaults. l went to the military police and submitted a complaint. l realize now how naive l was, as it never occurred to me that justice would be inaccessible because of my gender.

Don't get me wrong; l was treated very nicely by the military police, something l should be thankful for, as l've found out that many women get treated like criminals when they make sexual assault complaints, at least to civilian police agencies. However, it was not handled competently by the police or by the lawyers involved. The file was closed because the sexual acts were deemed consensual by both lawyers. In fact, the crown attorney's legal opinion letter stated that because l was on my back and could not get away, consent was not an issue.

While in medical school l have spent a few hundred hours researching my case, learning about the law, and making various complaints about how my case was mishandled. l submitted a redress; the redress was denied. l wrote the Minister of National Defence and the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff. l submitted a complaint to the military police. Their investigation found that they had done no wrong.

l submitted a complaint to the Military Police Complaints Commission. The result was the same. l have written the federal and provincial attorneys general, my MP, and my MPP, and have heard nothing yet. l have exhausted all my options, except of course the most expensive one--the lawsuit.

If my suit is successful, this will cause police services and attorneys across the country to change how they do business. A woman might have a chance at having her assault investigated professionally, competently, and with integrity, something that does not occur regularly right now. I know that my section 15 charter rights have been violated. A lawsuit will hopefully be the catalyst that will lead to greater protection of women's charter rights, if and when they report sexual assault.

A lawsuit is expensive--so expensive that many now recognize that justice is accessible only to the extremely poor and the rich. Middle-class persons like me have to risk their homes, but I should emphasize that most Canadian women lack my financial resources. I am quite prepared to lose my home, but this would not have been necessary had the court challenges program not been cancelled.

I wish to conclude with three key points.

One, when the court challenges program cuts were announced, Prime Minister Harper suggested that this program only benefited lawyers. If my court challenge succeeds, it will force police and lawyers within the justice system to change how they treat sexual assaults. This would benefit women as a whole; I do not see how it would benefit lawyers.

Two, as a white, able-bodied, upper-middle-class, anglophone, heterosexual man, Prime Minister Harper, along with most of his cabinet, will never understand what it is like to be treated unequally in Canadian society. When he made these cuts he ignored the rights of everyone not lucky enough to share his own particular characteristics.

Finally, in the Canadian Forces we are taught that if an issue exists, one should propose a solution when broaching the issue. The court challenges program was cut, even though women and minority groups are still not treated with equality under the law. What other mechanism exists now that facilitates court challenges to guarantee the charter rights of all?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you very much, Captain Purdy.

We will now go to Beverley Jacobs for five minutes.

Welcome again.

[Beverley Jacobs, President, Native Women's Association of Canada]

Thank you.

I'm going to introduce myself in my language. It's my usual introduction.

[Witness speaks in Mohawk]

I said, “greetings of peace to you”, in my Mohawk language. I'm Mohawk Bear Clan, from the Six Nations Grand River Territory, Haudenosaunee Confederacy. My Mohawk Bear Clan name is Gowehgyuseh, which means “she's visiting”.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the impact of eliminating the court challenges program, specifically on aboriginal women and girls.

In the past the court challenges program provided a means, however limited, for aboriginal women who are marginalized in so many ways in Canadian society to fight for equality and fair treatment by using charter challenges. Unfortunately aboriginal women and girls have never been able to depend on the federal government to recognize or look out for their interests. The racism and colonialist discrimination embedded in the lndian Act and INAC policies disadvantage aboriginal people in general, and specifically aboriginal women and girls.

Aboriginal women have appealed decisions that were made under this legislation and these policies by using INAC administrative procedures in many areas. Typically these appeals are unsuccessful, and as a result aboriginal women continue to experience institutionalized and systemic discrimination at the hands of the federal government. For example, aboriginal women have appealed decisions with respect to registration under the lndian Act--both pre- and post-1985 amendments to the Indian Act--that negatively affect women and their children in a manner that is not experienced by aboriginal men. Typically these appeals have not been successful.

Aboriginal women are hampered in their efforts to have these decisions overturned by the further disadvantage that the decisions removing them from registration also mean that first nations governments or band councils are no longer able to assist them because they are no longer entitled to membership. I know that Sharon McIvor made a presentation to the committee. She is an example of that.

The court challenges program provided a venue in which aboriginal women could challenge bad legislation and poor policies, and it provided support they could not obtain elsewhere. The program provided aboriginal women with a portion of the financial assistance needed to confront the otherwise overwhelming size and resources of the federal government.

While the assistance provided by the court challenges program is in no way leveling the playing field, it at least provided some indication to oppressed aboriginal women that a challenge could be possible, that it was supported, and that maybe occasionally it could be successful.

The need for such a program is supported at the highest levels of the international community. The United Nations committee on the elimination of racial discrimination and the United Nations Committee on Human Rights have both directed Canada to better ensure the efficiency and accessibility of the complaint systems related to racial discrimination and to enhance the legal system so that all victims of discrimination have full access to effective remedies.

In addition, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended as recently as 2006 that Canada extend the court challenges program to permit funding of challenges with respect to provincial and territorial legislation and policies.

At a minimum, the Native Women's Association calls upon the federal government to maintain the court challenges program as it existed. The federal government should not fear scrutiny of fair and equitable legislation and policies using this program.

The court challenges program also provided an opportunity for the experiences of women to be brought to bear on government legislation and policies. This is beneficial, as those who create such legislation and policies do not generally have direct or personal experiences of the reality of aboriginal communities or of aboriginal women's specific realities in our communities, nor the understanding of the intersecting issues related to the colonialism, racism, and misogyny that continue to oppress aboriginal women today.

Thank you. Nia:wen.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to our final speaker, Mary Eberts.

[Mary Eberts, Legal Counsel, Native Women's Association of Canada]

Do we have five minutes left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

We'll give you five minutes. I think it's important to give five minutes to you.

[Mary Eberts]

Thank you.

I speak out of my experience as counsel for the Native Women's Association of Canada since the year 1991, and also as one of the founders of LEAF. But I will concentrate today on the litigation experience of the Native Women's Association that has been made possible by the court challenges program. I want to make two basic points.

My first point is that the court challenges program makes possible an orderly and law-abiding approach to social change. It gives access to the rule of law to people who do not have advantages and who do not have the means to access law through their own resources. It is thereby accomplishing something that supports the very infrastructure of our democracy.

The second point I wish to make is that the various activities of the court challenges program have actually served to complement rather than displace the legislative activity of the Canadian Parliament. I have a few examples for you.

It is not always the case that recipients of court challenges funding use that funding to attack federal legislation. Sometimes it has been the case, as Madame Tremblay has pointed out, that disadvantaged groups have used their court challenges funding to appear in court and defend legislation passed by Parliament that supports their human rights. That is the case with victims of violent crime, for example, who have appeared with court challenges funding to support the safeguards put into the Criminal Code for them.

Sometimes people use court challenges funding to explore new applications of legislation already on the books. The Native Women's Association received court challenges funding specifically to explore the defence of self-defence. This was in the context of an aboriginal woman who had been very poorly served by police services, to the point where she was taught by the state that the only thing she could do when attacked by a man almost twice her size was to respond in kind. She is using existing law and asking that it be interpreted so as to uphold her equality.

Litigation will also be only part of a policy development process. The Native Women's Association of Canada brought a case against the federal government complaining about the total absence of family property provisions with respect to Indian reserves. That situation had started in 1986 with a decision of the Supreme Court. It was not until the Native Women's Association, with court challenges funding, drew this matter to public attention by means of a lawsuit under section 15 that policy development began at all. Up until that time, government--all governments--had said, it is a terrible shame, but we don't know what to do about it. It was only when we took the government to court that they began to develop their policy.

The last point I wish to make is that in an environment like that inhabited by aboriginal women, we find that the women are subject, on a daily basis, to almost total influence and control by legislation of the federal government. The Indian Act is a totalizing control over the lives of the people who are subject to it. Without means like the court challenges program, women who are subject to the discrimination in the Indian Act have no defence against an influence on their lives that begins before they are born and lasts until after they die.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Thank you very much.

Being cognizant of everybody's time, I have to apologize to you. I am going to give a first round of five minutes, and then a second round of two minutes, and we'll hit the clock at 1 p.m.

Ms. Minna will start off. You have five minutes.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I have to say, in all the things I've heard this morning, and of course in other meetings, the sad part for me is that none of it surprises me. I know, and we know, what has been happening, which is why I support the charter challenge. The other thing is that it's devastating to hear the extent to which things are still not, for women, further than they ought to be and need to be.

That said, all of what was said by our guests who are on speakerphone and the ones who are here in the room is riveting, and I think a lot of this stuff will find its way into good recommendations.

I want to ask a couple of specific things, because I don't need to be convinced about all the needs. In all the things that have been said here, I agree.

To Captain Purdy, you said something earlier that I want to be clear about. The lawyers said that because you were on your back, you weren't able to say no; therefore, it had to be a yes. Am I understanding it right?

[Capt Jennifer Lynn Purdy]

Yes. What happened was that my police investigator made the mistake of showing me the two legal opinions that had been written, one by a Canadian Forces lawyer and one by a crown attorney within the province, and by doing so, waived solicitor-client privilege.

Anyway, in the crown attorney's letter that I was shown that day, the third paragraph read, and I paraphrase, “As then Officer Cadet Purdy herself states, the guy was on top of her and she could not get away, therefore there is no lack of consent.”

Basically, it was a fact-finding mission for me that day. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not asking for a photocopy. So right now I've hired a private investigator to see what he can dig up.

What happened was, two days after that, I wrote the crown attorney naively and said, “I'd like a meeting with you, because I don't understand why my case has been closed. I've read the various Supreme Court decisions, I've read the Criminal Code, and in particular, I don't understand why you wrote...,” and I recited that sentence.

I got a letter back within a day or so, not even addressing what I had said. He recommended that I get support from my commanding officer. But when I went and was finally given access to those two letters, there was a different letter on my file.

But yes, that is what I read; that is what was there.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Were they all men, or were there women involved?

[Capt Jennifer Lynn Purdy]

No, they were all men.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Okay. I hadn't understood that comment.

[Capt Jennifer Lynn Purdy]

No, actually, they were all men.

That crown attorney, I have been told—I've never met him personally—is apparently a bit of a jerk. But what I found interesting was that he does not normally deal with the military police in Ottawa. So if he felt so liberated, possibly, by solicitor-client privilege that he could write something like that in dealing with an organization that he does not normally deal with, that tells me that I would not want to be a woman in, shall we say, Kingston and come forward with a complaint of sexual assault, because if he wrote that about me, then as I wrote in one of my poems, what would he say about somebody who was not able-bodied, white, middle-class, educated, etc.?

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Thank you.

[Capt Jennifer Lynn Purdy]

It opened my eyes.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

And ours, I think, in extension.

I want to go very quickly to Ms. Muyinda, and then to Madam Jacobs, because my time will probably be short.

You gave us quite a long list of cases and areas in government in which racialized women, immigrant women, are affected. I was very involved with visible minority women's issues for some time, and actually was involved with the initial stage of a charter challenge. Are there any action cases right now that ought to be going to court, because of charter challenge, but are not able to, in your area?

[Estella Muyinda]

I'll give you two examples of case development. For instance, I'm aware of one about a black woman who wanted to develop a challenge because she is caught in a rut. She wants to get out, and she was representing other women who are trying to get out of poverty, but because they are getting EI or social assistance, the criteria do not allow them to be able to access the other.... The resources are there, but they cannot access any of those benefits.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

While they're on assistance, they wouldn't be able to access a charter challenge, even if it were still in place.

[Estella Muyinda]

If the court challenges program were still in place, they would be able to develop a case that would challenge the fact that they cannot, because of their poverty and because of the regulations and policies, get out of their situation. For instance, they want education, but you cannot get education because of--

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Right. Actually, that would be a good--

Am I out of time already?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yasmin Ratansi]

Yes, totally.

Madame Demers, cinq minutes, s'il vous plaît.

[Nicole Demers, Bloc, Laval, QC]

Ladies, I want to thank you very much for being with us this morning.

We have heard from a number of witnesses, and I must say I am quite discouraged and upset by everything I have been hearing. But, I would still like to put my question to Ms. Purdy. All the other women have made it clear that in most cases, situations where women's rights had been violated were what made the program so important.

However, I would like to address a question to Ms. Purdy for another reason.

Ms. Purdy, I know that it is very difficult to expose one's vulnerabilities in public. I guess you are at a stage of your life where you are doing this because you see no other possible avenue. You have to talk about those vulnerabilities in front of the entire world, so to speak, in order to explain the problems you have encountered. I also want to put this question to you because you do not seem to be a raging feminist. Yet, last week, we were told the Court Challenges Program only served the purposes of raging feminists.

Ms. Purdy, could you tell me what it could mean for there to be some recognition of what happened to you in your life? You are now studying to become a doctor and you are a member of the Canadian Forces. Was the fact that you applied to the Court Challenges Program in any way detrimental to your military career? Did it cause problems in terms of your relationship with your colleagues? Do you have a family? Has it adversely affected you in that respect as well?

I would like you to tell us these things in order to show the government that raging feminists are not the only ones that avail themselves of this program, and to underline its importance for all women, but also for all men—indeed, for all people who have been injured in one way or another.

[Capt Jennifer Lynn Purdy]

I will try to answer you in French if I can. As I see it, a feminist is someone who is seeking equality. So, it is not someone who burns her bra in public, the way they used to do in the 1960s.

People may have said of me that I am a raging feminist, but I am a feminist. All I am seeking is equality.

I'm going to continue in English

because my French is a bit laboured

and I'd like to try to get some points across.

I am single. I'm 34 years old. My rape definitely took me for a turn, because I suppressed it for nine years. For nine years I never dated, never had a partner, whatever. The reason I'm able to speak more openly about it now is because, number one, I've come to terms with what has happened; and number two, I feel that I am in a good position to speak about it. Most women may not feel comfortable talking about it. Many women from various cultures may not be able to talk about it, because in some cultures it's downright unacceptable. Obviously it's not the woman's fault, but it's still deemed completely unacceptable.

As a future doctor, and as a captain in the forces--who is speaking as an individual, I should add--I feel I might have some credibility when I speak about this issue. For me it's very important that somebody speak out about this, because it's on the rise, although it's hard to find statistics. Sexual assault does occur a lot, way too much in Canada, and I feel that if I and other committed persons do not speak up and address this issue, then it will continue to be basically a silent epidemic.

I don't know if I've answered your question.

Are there any other…