Thank you to the committee for inviting me here today. It's very nice to see you all again.
My name is Jennifer Dunn, and I am the executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre, or LAWC, here in London, Ontario.
LAWC is a feminist organization that supports and advocates for personal, social and systemic change directed at ending male violence against women and girls.
LAWC is a non-residential agency that provides women and girls over the age of 12 who have been abused, assaulted, exploited or trafficked or who have experienced non-state torture immediate access to long-term, trauma-informed, woman-centred counselling, advocacy and support.
In June, justice minister David Lametti tabled Bill C-28. This bill was introduced in response to the Supreme Court of Canada decision striking a section of the Criminal Code of Canada, which left a huge hole for extreme intoxication when it plays a part in a violent offence against another person. Evidence shows that this type of offence most frequently occurs by men against women.
The London Abused Women’s Centre believes the Supreme Court has made a mistake. We agree that Parliament had to act in response to the Supreme Court decision, but we do feel it was rushed. There was a lack of consultation before the bill was introduced.
In August, MP Karen Vecchio held a virtual round table about Bill C-28 at the London Abused Women’s Centre. MP Larry Brock was also in attendance. We had a table filled with frontline workers and women with lived experience. During this round table, my colleague Kelsey Morris said:
It's incredibly infuriating we have seen intoxication used against victims and survivors for eons. Intoxication has continuously been used as something to villainize and condemn survivors and now we are all watching in real time as this same vessel of intoxication is being used to protect and excuse perpetrators…if this defence becomes prominent, as women we've got the message loud and clear that we are not safe in Canada.
During this round table, women with lived experience said to us that they were concerned about the Supreme Court's priorities. One woman mentioned that protecting victims should come first. Women should always be a priority. Women said that the people who haven't been through this can’t possibly understand. They said that you can't ask survivors who have been failed time and time again to trust that this is not going to make things worse. Women have lived through situations in which they have been told that certain things are unlikely to happen and then they have had to end up living through those situations in the criminal justice system.
On June 23, it was said:
The Government of Canada will continue to take action to maintain public confidence in the criminal justice system and support victims and survivors of crime. This legislation is one of several recent legislative reforms and programs the government has advanced to support victims and survivors of crime, including survivors of sexual assault.
During our round table in August, one woman made an important point about the fact that the extreme intoxication defence might be rare because these types of cases are not making it that far. We know from Statistics Canada that only 6% of sexual assault cases are reported to police, and of those 6% only one in five results in a trial. Even before a case goes to court, survivors face complex barriers to reporting. The criminal justice system is largely based on testimony and evidence, which is not effective to those harmed. The extreme intoxication defence creates additional challenges.
The London Abused Women’s Centre believes this decision by the Supreme Court of Canada was made to favour the criminal instead of the victim. The Supreme Court’s decision has left a huge hole. The extreme intoxication defence can be seen as excusing the offender's actions, can show a failure to hold offenders accountable, can be seen as minimizing violent crimes, and upholds even some myths about rape.
Women call us every day for support. When our community found out about this, women called us and asked us how this was going to hurt them. They asked us what they should do next. Women report that they are fearful that perpetrators, mostly men, might automatically think that they will not be held responsible if they are intoxicated.
In conclusion, we know that Bill C-28 is an attempt to address the Supreme Court’s decision around extreme intoxication and that it aims to support victims and survivors of crime and to hold offenders accountable, but at the end of the day the ruling from the Supreme Court truly diminishes all past victories that protect women and girls.
Thank you.