I was only able to speak to the Crown attorney in my case once they had decided that they would be doing a joint submission with the defence. My sexual assault case ended up having a plea deal for the lesser charge of assault. When the Crown came to the determination that this is what they would be submitting to the court, they had a call with me to inform me and asked what I thought. However, there was very little explanation by the Crown. There are so many terms that are thrown out in the process. What is a bench warrant? What are submissions? What do all of these things mean? There's no one who really explains it to you.
I only had a very brief interaction with the Crown, and the initial prosecutor who had my file didn't even show up to court that day. It was a different Crown attorney I'd never met in my life. I didn't even know that she was the Crown until she started speaking. In terms of meaningful collaboration or consultation, I wouldn't say there was either of those two words.