Justice committee  You couldn't get a legal aid certificate for this, for sure. You absolutely couldn't. In fact, legal aid certificates get issued to represent complainants in sexual assault cases when there are third party records applications or applications to admit personal records or sexual history at trial.

Justice committee  I would guess so, too.

Justice committee  I could try answering you in French, but it would take a long time, so I'll answer in English. I think that organizing them can be difficult and complicated, and no one has really turned their mind to this option. I also think it's important to recognize that there is a perception that there is a formality to these publication ban orders, which is not reflective of reality; they are very casual.

Justice committee  I think it is certainly possible to do that, assuming that the publication ban gets applied to everyone at the outset and there is a publication ban on everyone, but if two people decide, “I want to be able to speak about this going forward”, I think this is the only situation where a judge should hesitate to immediately revoke all the publication bans.

Justice committee  There are some cases where it's going to be more challenging, and that is why there will need to be a judge who can weigh those countervailing concerns and decide whether or not the publication ban could be lifted.

Justice committee  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.

Justice committee  Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Thank you for having me here today. In my limited time, I want to focus on the treatment of publication bans in this bill. My view, in relation to publication bans, has been informed by my work over the last two decades in criminal and constitutional law.