I am a grandmother of a preschooler who was sexually assaulted by her father. The judicial system failed abysmally in protecting my granddaughter. I believe that our judicial system needs to change and it would start with mandatory training and experience in sexual crimes for defence, crown, and judges. The laws themselves need to be interpreted more humanely rather than having a 4 year old, 20 months after the disclosure to testify in a public courtroom and be judged as an unreliable witness. The RCMP need to have a sexual crimes unit in every dispatch office. We need to have victims of sexual abuse and assault create a movement that will provide the government with solutions that they will be mandated to implement. The objective is to have the judicial system create a criminal court for sex crimes that would not be prosecuted with the same interpretations as the existing courts now. Monies raised would be held in trust to be used for legal fees in the commitment to creating sex crime courts and expenses for the volunteer groups who are committed to making critical changes in our judicial system regarding sex crimes to meet and create viable legal solutions.
Every parent who has experienced a similar story, and those who have not gone the legal route, need to stand up for our children, sexual assault victims, and ourselves. Our society has institutionalized revictimizing victims. As one person, we have no voice, as a million voices, we finally have a voice. We need to set up rural and urban groups to identify their community's needs and then legally if necessary launch a class action and either sue the federal/provincial/territorial judicial system or sit down with them and create change that doesn't have revictimization built into the system. We need to start with having conversations about sexual abuse of children and sexual assault of vulnerable individuals. We need to have the government and private funding to do the research that supports the billions of dollars tax payers spend annually on sexually abuse/assault consequences in our communities. The most reliable statistics is over 30 years old and it is outdated with 1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 6 boys will be sexually assaulted. I have asked this question more than a hundred times, "Have you never had unwanted sexual contact before the age of 18?" I have NEVER had anyone share that this was the case, instead everyone I asked had been sexually assaulted!
The sex offenders are inadvertently supported by the judicial system and our silence is responsible for millions of children being sexually abused every day. The goals for our fundraiser would be to have national small groups committed to not just talking about the social normalization of sexual assault, but to have these groups make commitments to finding dignified solutions that we would demand the governments implement. One recommendation is to have a criminal sex crime court, where the offender is supported by the judiciary trained and experienced in sexual crimes. Instead of a judge or jury, it would be a panel of informed and creditable professionals who would make the judgement of guilty or innocent. As it is now we have only one criminal court and it is based on victims being reliable in their testimony. This principle is noble but abusive to victims of sexual crimes and their families because it doesn't consider the reality of sexual crimes and the profound trauma experienced.
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