Thank you.
In recent months, there has been a great deal of debate over Canada's sexual assault laws. Dramatic events have provoked calls for the law to be completely overhauled. While understandable, such calls are overstated. In fact, Canada has one of the most progressive sexual assault frameworks in the world. Nonetheless, there are some changes that would ensure greater consistency between the Criminal Code and Supreme Court jurisprudence, better reflect parliamentary intent, and promote optimal responses to sexualized violence.
Bill C-51 contains a number of such changes, which I am pleased to support. I will focus on the proposed changes to the law of consent in section 273, and to the impermissible uses of past sexual history in section 276. These changes are contained in clause 19, clause 20, and the first part of clause 21.
Clause 19 clarifies the conditions, already set out in section 273.1, under which no consent to sexual touching is legally possible. I agree with the proposal to include a specific reference to unconsciousness and to make clear that other forms of incapacity, short of that state, can impair a person's legal ability to consent.
Some have argued that, given Supreme Court case law, this change is redundant. I disagree. It is always appropriate—indeed, it is laudatory and even essential—for Parliament to confirm common-law rulings with which it agrees. This is especially true in criminal law. Such clear expression of legislative intent protects important principles from later judicial change. I would remind the committee that the court's important decision in Regina v. J.A., in which it rejected the idea of advance consent to unconscious sex, was a majority ruling that was attended by a vigorous, three-judge dissent.
Some have also argued that this change could lead trial judges to insisting on complete unconsciousness before the rule against consent is operative. To the extent that there is such a risk, a proposition I do not necessarily accept, I think that the new subparagraph (b) addresses it.
Let me move now to clause 20 and its proposed change to section 273.2. One of the most important and distinctive aspects of Canada's sexual assault law is that it narrows the accused's ability to argue an honest but mistaken belief in consent, a defence that negatives mens rea.
In its unanimous decision in Regina v. Ewanchuk, the Supreme Court stated that an accused may not rely on mistakes of law about consent as a basis for honest but mistaken belief. The court gave a number of examples, such as the belief that consent is demonstrated by passive or ambiguous conduct.
In my opinion, the limitations on the definition of consent set out in section 273.1 are properly regarded as mistakes of law. I therefore support the move in clause 20 to specify those limitations as ineligible for the defence of honest but mistaken belief. I am, though, concerned that the current wording of proposed subparagraph 273.2(a)(iii), which refers to “any circumstance in which no consent is obtained,” could confuse the distinction between fact and law in relation to consent.
Assuming that the intent is to remove the accused's ability to rely on legal as opposed to factual mistakes, I would recommend either inserting into this new clause some reference to the term “mistake of law”, or making it clear that these are circumstances where consent is deemed not to obtain. Using the word “deemed” would clarify that the intent here is to prohibit the accused from relying on legally impermissible understandings of consent. It would also be a very powerful message from Parliament about the nature of the limitations on consent in section 273.1.
I also agree with the proposal in subclause 20(3) to ensure that an honest but mistaken belief in consent must rest in some way on evidence that consent was communicated. This change is consistent with the Supreme Court's reasoning in R. v. Ewanchuk. Such evidentiary thresholds are not uncommon. I think it is appropriate to ensure that the defence is based on evidence that relates in some way to how Parliament has defined consent for the purposes of sexual touching.
Finally, let me move to one change contained in clause 21 that relates to sexual history, or what is colloquially known as the “rape shield” provision.
The treatment of the complainant's prior sexual history has been a persistent challenge for the criminal justice system. Current section 276 of the code was part of a groundbreaking law reform effort in 1992. Subsection 276(1) states that sexual activity evidence is inadmissible to support an inference that, by virtue of her past sexual conduct, a complainant is more likely to have consented to the alleged assault or that she is less credible as a witness. These are called the twin myths of sexual assault. It is important to understand that the use of such evidence for such purposes is prohibited.
Under subsections 276(2) and 276(3), there is a separate process for considering the admissibility of past sexual activity that is offered to support different inferences. Unfortunately, the distinction between subsection 276(1) and the rest of section 276 has become blurred. Some judges have applied the framework outlined in the later subsections, subsections 276(2) and 276(3), to inferences that are clearly prohibited by subsection 276(1).
There is no balancing process capable of supporting the admission of evidence intended to advance the twin myths. By clarifying that subsections 276(1) and 276(2) cover distinct uses of sexual history evidence, the proposed change addresses this problem. It is consistent with the specific, unanimous, and complete rejection of the twin myths in R. v. Seaboyer, later affirmed in R. v. Darrach, and with the original animating intent of Parliament.
That concludes my prepared remarks. Thank you.