Sexual abuse and sexual assault are traumatic experiences that can have profound and long-term effects on survivors. It takes immense courage and determination to seek justice for these crimes.
Historic or Childhood Claims
In Canada, there is no statute of limitations or, "expiry date", for reporting sexual abuse or sexual assaults. The fact that there is no statute of limitations or, "expiry date", recognizes that people who were abused as children may take many years to process and understand the harm they suffered and continue to suffer.
Recent Claims
The burden of proof that must be met in a civil case, i.e., a lawsuit, to successfully receive compensation is a lower burden than what the Crown Attorney must meet to achieve a conviction in a criminal case. The civil case must be established on a "balance of probabilities" or, put another way, that it is more likely than not that sexual assault occurred.
Third-party Records Applications
When a person has been charged by the police with a sexual offence, that person's lawyer may apply to the court to introduce "records" that contain a victim's personal information. These "records" can be used in the criminal trial to help the accused person be found not guilty. For example, the accused person's lawyer may apply to the court to obtain a victim's counselling records in an attempt to show the court that a victim has changed their story and is not a credible witness. We vigorously defend against these applications which pertain to s. 276 and s. 278 of the Criminal Code of Canada.