Marlee Liss still remembers how dehumanizing she felt sitting through the preliminary judgment of the man accused of sexually assaulting her, disturbed by how she was treated while testified, while answering a series of invasive questions.
The case of Toronto’s woman took three years to reach trial. All the time, he said, he didn’t necessarily want his alleged assailant to go to jail, he just wanted him to assume responsibility.
Thanks to a reference of your crown lawyer, The case stopped in 2019 so that Liss could follow a community justice programalso known as restorative justice. There, he could listen to his alleged assailant to take responsibility in a private room, apologizing directly to her. He also submitted to months of therapy.
Liss said that the prosecutor who agreed to resolve the case outside the discouraging court of the court was the most curative time throughout the process.
“It was the first time that someone finally said … ‘Your voice matters, what you need matters, your limits are important, your healing is important. We act according to what you need,” said Liss, who is the founder of the Global Defense Group, the reform of the justice of the survivors.
Because the case was diverted from the judicial system, the alleged assailant of Liss did not receive a criminal sentence, but by the time the community justice program was completed, Liss said she was sure that she was not rejoined.
Liss’s experience is rare. In Ontario, sexual crimes are among a list of serious crimes that are considered inevitable for the derivation to community justice programs by the prosecutors of the Crown. According to a 2023 report of the Women’s Education and Legal Action Fund (Leaf), the Crown Lawyer for the Liss case was later disciplined formally for his actions.
Survivors 4 Justice Reform is asking the province to eliminate that policy. The group has written an open letter to the Ministry of the Attorney General, co-filled by 50 individuals and organizations that work and advocate for the survivors of sexual assault.
“To deny the survivors this option perpetuates a unique approach for all that does not meet the complex realities of sexual violence,” says the letter, publicly shared on Monday.
A spokesman for the Attorney Minister refused to comment, without having seen the letter. Charlotte Carron then refused to answer CBC questions about the policy of not referring cases of sexual aggression to community justice programs and if that could be changed in the future. “It would not be appropriate to comment on this issue without seeing the letter,” he said by email.
Restorative justice can take different forms, including therapy, healing circles rooted in indigenous practices, rehabilitation programs or volunteer work. People accused of crimes have to assume responsibility for their actions and be willing to make “significant amendments” to participate, according to the Crown Procedure Manual of the Province.
“The idea that restorative justice could be something that allows perpetrators to go out. I think we have to start recognizing perpetrators are not in the hook at this time with the criminal legal system,” said Liss.
Survivors do not know what is an option
At this time, community justice programs are available in Ontario for survivors of sexual assault that have not informed their case to the police. But many do not know that it is an option, said Liss. She says that people’s first instinct is to call the police, and once a case is in the legal system, it is too late.
“We really want it to be possible for people who are already going through the criminal legal system to be able to change their minds … that is what consent is,” said Liss.
Emily Quint says that she wants to have known about restorative justice since the case of sexual aggression against her alleged assailant was going through the legal system.
The charges finally stayed Due to an unreasonable delay in 2023. His was one of the 59 cases of sexual aggression that year in Ontario, which remained due to delays, according to data from the Ministry of the Attorney General.
“I was reaumatized, revicted, only treated as if it were absolutely nothing,” he said.
According to Statistics Canada data, more than half of the criminal charges established by the Police in Ontario never come to trial, according to data from Statistics Canada. As Sarah Macmillan of CBC reports, the numbers paint a worrying image of the justice system of the province.
While understanding why many survivors want to see their punished assailants, Quint says it never was about that for her.
“I wanted to get up and say: ‘This is what happened to me and it was not right,” he said. “I wanted healing for me, heal for him, advise me for me, advise him.”
The lack of access is another barrier
The lawyer Depa Mattoo said that she has seen many survivors prefer to seek justice outside the Court in her time as director of the Commemorative Clinic of Barbra Schlifer, which supports the survivors of gender violence. She says they would go to the Human Rights Court or the Criminal Injury Compensation Court now missing.
Mattoo accepts that survivors should have a greater option, but says that the clinic tends not to send them to restorative justice programs due to low availability for those services throughout the province.
“These options must be designed and available in [the] Community for people to the people who are referred to people, “said Mattoo.
The policy that prohibits prosecutors from referring to survivors of sexual aggression to these programs is a great reason why the programs have no resources, according to Rosel Kim, a lawyer for senior personnel in Leaf, one of the organizations signed by the open letter.
Kim should not only relax the province of its policy, but it should also increase the financing of the programs.
“If only the moratorium elevates, but they don’t provide options, that’s not significant,” Kim said.
