Justice Committee on Oct. 17th, 2022

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Thank you.

Sometimes victims end up wanting to withdraw their complaints. They do not want to move past the initial stage when they filed the complaint at the police station, or later at the trial stage. Sometimes the prosecutor doesn't want the complaint withdrawn. They put pressure on the victim, whether male or female, who may have had enough and doesn't want to keep going. That happens a lot.

Do you see any way to fix this problem? Can the prosecutor be made to respect the victim's wishes? In your testimony, you also talked about the victim's wishes in filing a complaint. Could you speak to that, please?

[Marie-Hélène Ouellette]

In 20 years, I've only worked with one person who filed a complaint and then withdrew it, and the prosecutor then decided to go ahead with the charges. In fact, that prosecutor succeeded in getting a guilty verdict. The case involved a young teenage girl who was assaulted by her father and decided to withdraw her complaint.

I'm a little ambivalent and divided on the issue. On the one hand, you have to respect the victims' pace, but on the other, when manipulation occurs, it's not easy.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Do victims who file a complaint get support from someone other than their prosecutor or their own lawyer? Do they have access to counselling or to a social worker who could support them throughout the process? Is that kind of counselling available?

[Marie-Hélène Ouellette]

That's the kind of assistance we provide at our centre; I'd say we really provide a full range of services. Other groups and associations offer the same kind of assistance. Of course, we do have waiting lists, as do many other places. It would be a good idea to provide better support to organizations that offer that kind of assistance.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

In your testimony, you stated that 20 years ago, a police officer told you that three-quarters of complaints were thought to be unfounded. Since that time, police officers have received training to make them more sensitive to these cases.

What does sensitivity training consist of? What could be done to make police officers and prosecutors even more sensitive to sexual assault cases?

[Marie-Hélène Ouellette]

We got lucky. The #MeToo movement put a lot of pressure on the various systems and made the police to take a good look at themselves.

In my region, I feel it's much easier to work with police officers now. They ask to meet with us to discuss things and see how we can work together better. The #MeToo movement provided a good jolt.

The various training courses provided to police services—

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Thank you, Ms. Dhillon.

Thank you, Ms. Ouellette. You had the fullness of the hour to be our witness and express all your thoughts.

I'm now going to suspend the meeting. Our second hour is in camera business, committee business. We will suspend, and we will allow the witnesses to leave. I will re-enter Zoom through a different link. If there's anyone else who needs to, they may do so as well.

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]