I do think there needs to be more thought given to the role of independent counsel. The role of complainant counsel is a relatively new and unusual role in the criminal justice system. Typically, we think of prosecutor and defence counsel. There is a huge need to provide, at the very beginning of this stage of the process, independent legal advice to people who have survived sexual violence. I come across a lot of clients who, if they had known what the process would be like, might not have chosen to come forward and report.
I know that publication bans are intended to encourage reporting, but I think that the most important thing is agency. They've experienced something where they had no control. They come forward and report because they're told that's what they should do, and they end up in a process where they lose complete control of everything again. They don't get a voice; they don't get a say. They don't get informed about what's happening, even by well-meaning prosecutors and victim services; everyone is so busy.
I think that, at the very outset, they need to be able to access independent legal advice. I'm in Ontario, so I only know about the program that exists in Ontario. There is a program that started as a pilot project that the provincial government rolled out across the province. Every victim of sexual violence in the province of Ontario is, in theory, entitled to access four hours of independent legal advice. If you apply for a voucher, you can get it. There are 26 lawyers, maybe 27 lawyers, in the whole province who are on that list right now. I'm not one of them; I can't get on the list because the list was put together in 2016, when I was a Crown attorney. People are told that they have access to something, but they can't even access it. That's just in Ontario.
I do think there's a real need to have people help guide you through the system to explain what the process will be—whether or not that's in relation to publication bans—and to be a conduit of information to the Crown, because Crown attorneys don't want to talk to you and turn themselves into witnesses or potentially trigger disclosure obligations. That's just one way of thinking about it.
I do think that further training for everyone in the system, including Crown attorneys and judges as well, about what it actually means to be trauma-informed is an important thing.
There has been training that has been implemented for federal judges, and when people are applying, they have to agree to that training. However, the majority of cases actually proceed through provincial courts. That's outside your jurisdiction, but it is a problem in terms of making sure that the training hits at all the right points in the system.