Status of Women committee  Diversity on the bench is a huge issue that has the potential to improve a variety of aspects of the process. It's still going to be a very narrow demographic, which is part of the point that Ms. Hendel made. Regardless of the pool, we're talking about a very narrow demographic o

Status of Women committee  Again, like I said, the move to make training mandatory for new judges on the part of the CJC is recognition of the need for exactly this type of training. Given that the harms are unique, and given the complexity of this particular legal issue, I think mandatory training is need

Status of Women committee  I agree with everything that Professor Koshan said, but I will add that a lot of the initiatives that could improve the experience for complainants—and to be clear, I think there is decent research suggesting that fear of the criminal justice system is one of the reasons people d

Status of Women committee  The fact that the Canadian Judicial Council has taken the new step of actually mandating training for new judges suggests clear recognition of these deficiencies, and there's no reason to think that new judges school would be sufficient or that judges, just like the rest of us, d

Status of Women committee  There's no question that it would require resources, so that's just a decision: does the government want to commit those resources to improving the experience that complainants have in the criminal trial process? Also, it has to be just as a matter of common sense. True, oral de

Status of Women committee  I agree with Professor Koshan. I would just add that I understand that aspect of the bill to be a structure and not something substantively directing the content of the training, but presumably it would have to cover intersectionality.

Status of Women committee  I'm not going to speak to the judicial independence point, because my analysis and research focus most recently has been on the written reasons part. There is a possibility that subparagraphs 62.1(1)(b) and (c) could have a division of powers issue in terms of a province's legisl

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the opportunity to speak with the committee today. I teach in areas of constitutional law, evidence law, and legal issues concerning gender and sexuality. My main area of research is indeed sexual assault law. I'd like to focus my comments today on the third part