Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, merci.
I am a Captain in the Canadian Forces with 13 years' experience. I am in my fourth year of Medical School at the University of Ottawa. In May, I will graduate and be a physician.
In October 1995, l was 22 years old and a second-year officer cadet at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. l was a virgin. One night l went to an RMC party on base. l was drunk, and a third-year officer cadet asked me if l wanted to go for a walk. Unsuspectingly, l agreed and we left the party. Once we were by ourselves he sexually assaulted and raped me. As officer cadets at RMC, we are conditioned not to be weak in any way. l suppose l could not deal with what happened to me, so l suppressed the incident.
Nine years later, in October 2004, l was two months into my first year of medical school. l took a weekend-long self-defence course, something that l had always wanted to do without knowing why. During the course l had my first flashback. l have since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and two sleep disorders.
As soon as l had my flashbacks l researched the Criminal Code and discovered that there was no statute of limitations for sexual assaults. l went to the military police and submitted a complaint. l realize now how naive l was, as it never occurred to me that justice would be inaccessible because of my gender.
Don't get me wrong; l was treated very nicely by the military police, something l should be thankful for, as l've found out that many women get treated like criminals when they make sexual assault complaints, at least to civilian police agencies. However, it was not handled competently by the police or by the lawyers involved. The file was closed because the sexual acts were deemed consensual by both lawyers. In fact, the crown attorney's legal opinion letter stated that because l was on my back and could not get away, consent was not an issue.
While in medical school l have spent a few hundred hours researching my case, learning about the law, and making various complaints about how my case was mishandled. l submitted a redress; the redress was denied. l wrote the Minister of National Defence and the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff. l submitted a complaint to the military police. Their investigation found that they had done no wrong.
l submitted a complaint to the Military Police Complaints Commission. The result was the same. l have written the federal and provincial attorneys general, my MP, and my MPP, and have heard nothing yet. l have exhausted all my options, except of course the most expensive one--the lawsuit.
If my suit is successful, this will cause police services and attorneys across the country to change how they do business. A woman might have a chance at having her assault investigated professionally, competently, and with integrity, something that does not occur regularly right now. I know that my section 15 charter rights have been violated. A lawsuit will hopefully be the catalyst that will lead to greater protection of women's charter rights, if and when they report sexual assault.
A lawsuit is expensive--so expensive that many now recognize that justice is accessible only to the extremely poor and the rich. Middle-class persons like me have to risk their homes, but I should emphasize that most Canadian women lack my financial resources. I am quite prepared to lose my home, but this would not have been necessary had the court challenges program not been cancelled.
I wish to conclude with three key points.
One, when the court challenges program cuts were announced, Prime Minister Harper suggested that this program only benefited lawyers. If my court challenge succeeds, it will force police and lawyers within the justice system to change how they treat sexual assaults. This would benefit women as a whole; I do not see how it would benefit lawyers.
Two, as a white, able-bodied, upper-middle-class, anglophone, heterosexual man, Prime Minister Harper, along with most of his cabinet, will never understand what it is like to be treated unequally in Canadian society. When he made these cuts he ignored the rights of everyone not lucky enough to share his own particular characteristics.
Finally, in the Canadian Forces we are taught that if an issue exists, one should propose a solution when broaching the issue. The court challenges program was cut, even though women and minority groups are still not treated with equality under the law. What other mechanism exists now that facilitates court challenges to guarantee the charter rights of all?
Thank you.