I could probably say a couple of things in relation to that. You're quite right that simply some kind of notional right to counsel, if it's not funded, is illusory for most women.
I think it's also important to recognize that the level of documentation for complainants does not fall equally across society. Even if you look at the patterns with regard to sexual offences, the absolutely highest rates are for teenage girls aged 13 to 15. That's from Stats Canada statistics.
You have young victims, often young women or girls, certainly where records applications are being brought, who have lived very heavily documented lives, who have child welfare records, school records, medical or therapeutic records, possibly records from some kind of rape crisis centre, etc. Many of those records the young women had no part in creating and have never even seen, but they carry a lot of judgments about who these women are. These are also young people who live their whole lives online and who have all kinds of material in that sphere.
I think it is important to recognize that this doesn't fall equally. In terms of what else we could be doing, certainly funding the opportunities for counsel, as is being proposed here, is very important.
I think that in terms of our most vulnerable witnesses in sexual assault trials, Canada is way behind other jurisdictions. I was very pleased to welcome a delegation from Scotland a couple of years ago that was coming to learn from other jurisdictions about the approach to accommodating vulnerable witnesses in court and in sexual assault trials in particular. It became quite apparent that we had much more to learn from them than they did from us. Certainly the reports that they've been putting out are proposing quite dramatic changes to the way we take evidence from vulnerable witnesses.
I think that there's a lot to be learned from what is happening elsewhere and that none of those things have to detract from the right of every accused to a fair trial. They're just a recognition that often it's very vulnerable women and girls who are coming before the courts in these cases.