I'm really glad you asked the question. The fact that I brought up the Supreme Court decision speaks to a reality that we had to intervene at that level for this issue to even come forward before the judiciary because of what had happened at the provincial court level with this particular decision.
The reality is that women with disabilities are not believed. Many women are not believed. The whole issue of women's credibility in testifying is critical. The struggle for any woman to come forward and report is huge. You can imagine the kinds of challenges a woman with a disability faces just to get to that court if she's not supported. The idea that she gets to the court and then her credibility is questioned is huge. In terms of the reality that we must include civil society and focus on the training piece is absolutely critical, but that it be intersectional and that this isn't going far enough is absolutely clear.
The idea that Supreme Court decisions like these were attained by DAWN in 2012, and that most of the judiciary and crown prosecutors are not aware of this is so critical. It makes the point really strongly. That was in 2012; it's 2017. In December 2016, I heard from a woman whose daughter had been sexually assaulted. She had a learning disability, was in high school, and was being told by the crown prosecutor that she shouldn't go forward. She didn't really want to go through this, having been discouraged from going forward when she had reported—a 13-year-old girl sexually assaulted at her break in school. So yes, I think it's extremely critical.
Women with disabilities are being sexually assaulted at at least twice the rate of other women and we are not being supported to come forward and testify. Again, I'm coming to the point that all the other folks have made and we've reiterated here: it's critical to understand that, to support that.
Nobody supported DAWN going to the Supreme Court except LEAF. There was no funding. There was just enough funding to get us to the table. To understand that for DAWN Canada to even exist 30 years in, and we're the only organization for women with disabilities, speaks to the huge gap in understanding of who needs to be supported at the civil society level and all the way up.