In February, there was a Globe and Mail report on unfounded cases of sexual assault allegations. The national police data, as part of the 20-month investigation that the Globe did, revealed that one out of every five sexual assault allegations in Canada had been dismissed as baseless and therefore unfounded.
Our committee here, just a month later, made two recommendations in this area. One was that the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Justice work in partnership with the provinces, territories, and first nations communities to develop strategies to deal with sexual assault cases, and to ensure police and prosecutors use a common set of practices in dealing with the survivors of sexual violence.
Then a second recommendation, number 31, was:
That the Government of Canada, through the Department of Justice, in collaboration with the [RCMP], establish sexual assault advocates within law enforcement and legal bodies, and that the role of the advocate be to: ensure that the complainant is cognisant of the full range of existing laws, services and options available to survivors of sexual assault as they move through the legal system, including options outside of the existing criminal justice system; and to ensure that there is a trauma-informed and survivor-centric approach throughout the legal process.
Is that something that either of you have been involved with in the consideration of those recommendations? Do you have a sense from the victims you might have spoken with that there would be an appetite for such action on the part of the federal government?