Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that victims of sexual assault cannot have police records used against them in court if those records are not related to the case in question.
Current federal law permits defence lawyers limited access to the medical records of sex-assault victims.
However, they are given access to records that are made by police investigators or the Crown.
Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling changes that. Access to police records will now be given only when those records involve the offence in question.
The Court said that unrelated occurrence reports could reveal private information such as previous sexual assaults suffered by the victims. It said that would harm their “dignity rights” and discourage women from reporting sexual violence.
Amanda Dale, executive director of the Barbra Schlifer Clinic for women, said the ruling protects sex-assault victims from being discredited by the frivolous use of police documents.
In a somewhat related matter, The Canadian military said Wednesday that Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps will look into how the armed forces deals with sexual misconduct.
The chief of the defence staff, Gen. Tom Lawson, announced that Justice Deschamps will look at and make recommendations about Canadian Forces policies, procedures and programs.
Gen. Lawson said he is deeply disturbed by reports of sexual misconduct and doesn’t accept that this is part of military culture.
He pledged the military’s full co-operation.
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