Sexual Offences

The law in relation to sexual offences has changed dramatically in recent years. In the old days, the law of “consent” was relatively simple, and a person may have been successful in arguing “implied consent”. This is no longer the case. The law of consent has evolved to a fairly sophisticated degree, which makes the need for a highly skilled lawyer extremely important, as you will need to have asked on your behalf numerous questions of the complainant which may advance a proper defence.

As a result of the Jian Ghomeshi acquittal on March 24, 2016, and some uninformed judicial rulings on sensitive sex cases after that, Parliament made numerous broad sweeping amendments to the Criminal Code to make it easier for a prosecutor to obtain convictions on sex assault cases. There were also some public campaigns encouraging victims to come forward and to encourage believing persons complaining of being a victim to a sexual assault. Some Criminal Code changes relate to a new obligation on an accused to disclose to the prosecutor prior to trial any emails or other communication between accused and complainant that might afford them a defence; otherwise the accused can’t use that evidence at trial. Some changes give the right to a complainant to have a lawyer for parts of the trial. A prosecutor can also now take away your right to a jury trial and still ask for a jail sentence up to two years. Some of the new laws have been ruled by the courts to be unconstitutional. Sexual assault law, along with Impaired Driving law, are some of the most heavily litigated and contentious areas of law.