Thank you to the committee for allowing me to appear before you today.
I am a first-generation immigrant and extremely proud to be a Canadian citizen. I have the privileges and rights and freedoms this country offers, but with those rights come responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is to participate in helping to bring about justice when summoned to do so. Our right to trial by jury depends on the willingness of all citizens to serve, but doing so should not be at the expense of a juror's own mental health.
In 1995, I was the first juror selected for the Paul Bernardo trial. Justice Patrick LeSage advised me the trial would be difficult and there would be graphic material presented as evidence. At that moment I had no way to fully comprehend how bad it would be. Imagine watching young girls being raped and tortured over and over again. You couldn't close your eyes and you couldn't look away because your duty was to watch the evidence. Many days I would go home in a fog, as if heavily medicated. I counted on my husband to care for our children and to assume most household responsibilities as I often had difficulty focusing on tasks after a day in court. Most nights the videos would play in my head over and over again. I had difficulty sleeping. Intimacy with my husband became nonexistent for a long time, even after the trial ended. I became afraid to go outside after dark, and to this day that still affects me. I have extreme distrust of strangers.
At one point during the trial, Justice LeSage had to call a recess on my behalf as I was having severe palpitations due to stress. Yet I was one of the lucky ones. In his 29 years as a judge, Patrick LeSage ordered or recommended counselling for jurors on only two occasions, and the Bernardo trial was one of them. He himself sought counselling after the trial ended. Since I was diagnosed as having PTSD, the counsellor advised services were available to me as long as I required them. While time is a great healer, having access to counselling helped me manage the trauma and anxiety and get back to living my life.
At the time I assumed counselling was provided automatically to jurors in traumatic trials. I came to realize this was not the case when I started reading about Mark Farrant and his mission to ensure that all jurors would be eligible for post-trial support. If it is our duty as citizens to take part in the jury system, then it must be the duty of the courts and the government to ensure that no harm comes to those willing to serve.
Thank you kindly for your time today. I hope the committee will make a strong recommendation to the government and justice minister that a national standard for jury mental health and counselling is necessary, and that all provinces are required to meet that standard.