1. Sexual assault: consent, "rape shield", and mistake

Warning: this session will include discussion of sensitive issues.

For much of Canadian legal history and indeed the history of many legal systems the law was stacked against victims of sexual assault. For example, a rape victim needed corroboration from another witness, an almost impossible threshold, what is more based on the notion that rape victims might be less than truthful. There are perhaps few areas of criminal justice that have undergone as much transformation as the law of sexual assault. More generally, that area of the law stands as a reminder that the criminal justice system is one through which fundamental claims about identity, integrity and discrimination are constantly being made. Through the prosecution (or the non-prosecution) of sexual assaults, powerful messages are sent, in particular, about gender.

The move from the old notion of rape to a broader concept of "sexual assault" is one example of the change involved. It tends to normalize sexual assault as having less to do with sex than with the violence one normally associates with non-sexual assaults. It also reduces the hurdles for the prosecution. However, it is not without its critics as potentially trivializing penetrative sexual violence.

Another very significant evolution in sexual assault law is the reinforcement of the distinction between the actus reus and the mens rea and the realization that in this specific context it has fundamental implications for victims. Unusually, the actus reus includes a mental element since what is required is sexual touching without the consent of the victim. The absence of consent of the victim constitutes the actus reus of sexual assault, regardless of what the accused thought about it. In other words, thinking that there is consent does not make it so. In addition, a victim might not be really consenting even if she superficially does. What matters is if she really consented or not. Note that consent will be excluded by law if, for example, it was obtained by fraud or the complainant was incapable of consenting to the activity. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.

It is only then that one examines the mens rea of the perpetrator, specifically as it relates to the question of consent. Whilst it is understood that an honest belief as to consent may exist, Parliament in Canada has also been keen to restrict the conditions under which such a belief could be alleged. In order to invoke a sincere mistake as to consent, the defense will need to have an "air of reality".
Class preparation
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Feminist Perspectives on Rape, First published Wed May 13, 2009; substantive revision Wed Aug 14, 2013
  • Sections 265-266, 271-273 and 276-277 of the Criminal Code
Further readings:

  • “How Canada’s Sex-Assault Laws Violate Rape Victims.” Accessed April 9, 2018. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-canadas-sex-assault-laws-violate-rape-victims/article14705289/.
  • Backhouse, Constance, “Chilly Climate for Women Judges: Reflections on the Backlash from the Ewanchuk Case” (2003) 15 Can. J. Women & L.
  • Benedet, Janine, and Isabel Grant, “A Situational Approach to Incapacity and Mental Disability in Sexual Assault Law” (2011) 43 Ottawa L. Rev.
  • Benedet, Janine, and Isabel Grant, “Hearing the Sexual Assault Complaints of Women with Mental Disabilities: Consent, Capacity, and Mistaken Belief” (2007) 52 McGill LJ.
  • Benedet, Janine, and Isabel Grant, “Sexual Assault and the Meaning of Power and Authority for Women with Mental Disabilities” (2014) 22:2 Feminist Legal Studies.
  • Benedet, Janine, “Sexual Assault Cases at the Alberta Court of Appeal: The Roots of Ewanchuk and the Unfinished Revolution” (2014) 52 Alta. L. Rev.
  • Benedet, Janine, “The Age of Innocence: A Cautious Defense of Raising the Age of Consent in Canadian Sexual Assault Law” (2010) 13:4 New Criminal Law Review: In International and Interdisciplinary Journal.
  • Benedet, Janine, “The Sexual Assault of Intoxicated Women” (2010) 22:2 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law.
  • Boyle, Christine, and Marilyn McCrimmon, “The Constitutionality of Bill C-49: Analyzing Sexual Assault as If Equality Really Mattered” (1998) 41 Crim. LQ.
  • Boyle, Christine, “Sexual Assault as Foreplay: Does Ewanchuk Apply to Spouses?” (2004) 20 Criminal Reports (6th).
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  • Buchhandler-Raphael, Michal, “The Failure of Consent: Re-Conceptualizing Rape as Sexual Abuse of Power” (2011) 18 Mich. J. Gender & L.
  • Busby, Karen, “Every Breath You Take: Erotic Asphyxiation, Vengeful Wives, and Other Enduring Myths in Spousal Sexual Assault Prosecutions” (2012) 24:2 Canadian journal of women and the law.
  • Craig, Elaine, “Ten Years after Ewanchuk the Art of Seduction Is Alive and Well: An Examination of the Mistaken Belief in Consent Defence” (2009).
  • Denike, Margaret, “Dignifying Equality: The Challenge of Reform in Sexual Assault Proceedings” (1999) 19:1/2 Canadian Woman Studies.
  • Du Mont, Janice, “Charging and Sentencing in Sexual Assault Cases: An Exploratory Examination” (2003) 15 Can. J. Women & L.
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  • Gotell, Lise, “The Ideal Victim, the Hysterical Complainant, and the Disclosure of Confidential Records: The Implications of the Charter for Sexual Assault Law” (2002) 40 Osgoode Hall LJ.
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  • Randall, Melanie, “The Treatment of Consent in Canadian Sexual Assault Law” (2011) Retrieved from Theequalityeffect. org.
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  • Grant, Yola Althea, “The Penetration of the Rape Shield: R. v. Seaboyer and R. v. Gayme in the Ontario Court of Appeal” (1989) 3 Can. J. Women & L.
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  • Roach, Kent, “Dialogue or Defiance: Legislative Reversals of Supreme Court Decisions in Canada and the United States” (2006) 4:2 International Journal of Constitutional Law.
  • Roberts, Julian V., Holly Johnson, and Michelle G. Grossman, “TRENDS IN CRIMES OF SEXUAL AGGRESSION IN CANADA: AN ANALYSIS OF POLICE-REPORTED AND VICTIMIZATION STATISTICS1” (2009) 5 A Guided Reader to Research in Comparative Criminology/criminal Justice.
  • Roberts, Julian V., and Renate M. Mohr, Confronting Sexual Assault: A Decade of Legal and Social Change (University of Toronto Press Toronto, 1994).
  • Roberts, Julian V., “Sexual Assault in Canada: Recent Statistical Trends” (1995) 21 Queen’s LJ.
  • Sampson, Fiona, “The Legal Treatment of Marital Rape in Canada, Ghana, Kenya and Malawi–A Barometer of Women’s Human Rights” (2010) The African and Canadian Women’s Human Rights Project. http://www. theequalityeffect. com/pdfs/maritalrapebarometer. pdf.
  • Schissel, Bernard, “Law Reform and Social Change: A Time-Series Analysis of Sexual Assault in Canada” (1996) 24:2 Journal of Criminal Justice.
  • Schuller, Regina A., and Patricia A. Hastings, “Complainant Sexual History Evidence: Its Impact on Mock Jurors’ Decisions” (2002) 26:3 Psychology of Women Quarterly.
  • Sheehy, Elizabeth A., “Feminist Argumentation before the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Seaboyer; R. v. Gayme: The Sound of One Hand Clapping” (1991) 18 Melb. UL Rev.
  • Sheehy, Elizabeth A., Sexual Assault in Canada: Law, Legal Practice and Women’s Activism (University of Ottawa Press/Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa, 2015).
  • Suarez, Eliana, and Tahany M. Gadalla, “Stop Blaming the Victim: A Meta-Analysis on Rape Myths” (2010) 25:11 Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
  • Tang, Kwong-leung, “Cultural Stereotypes and the Justice System: The Canadian Case of R. v. Ewanchuk” (2000) 44:6 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology.
  • Tanovich, David M., “Whack No More: Infusing Equality into the Ethics of Defence Lawyering in Sexual Assault Cases” (2013) 45 Ottawa L. Rev.
  • Vandervort, Lucinda, “Honest Beliefs, Credible Lies, and Culpable Awareness: Rhetoric, Inequality, and Mens Rea in Sexual Assault” (2004) 42 Osgoode Hall LJ.
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  • Balfour, Gillian, “Re-Imagining a Feminist Criminology” (2006) 48:5 Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
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  • Boyle, Christine, and Marilyn McCrimmon, “The Constitutionality of Bill C-49: Analyzing Sexual Assault as If Equality Really Mattered” (1998) 41 Crim. LQ.
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  • Craig, Elaine, “The Ethical Obligations of Defence Counsel in Sexual Assault Cases” (2013) 51 Osgoode Hall LJ.
  • Denike, Margaret A., “Myths of Women and the Rights of Man: The Politics of Credibility in Canadian Rape Law” (2002) Sexual violence: Policies, practices, and challenges in the United States and Canada.
  • Denike, Margaret, “Dignifying Equality: The Challenge of Reform in Sexual Assault Proceedings” (1999) 19:1/2 Canadian Woman Studies.
  • Denike, Margaret, “Sexual Violence and Fundamental Justice: On the Failure of Equality Reforms to Criminal Proceedings” (2000) 20:3 Canadian Woman Studies.
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