Yesterday (April 10), Wildrose leader Brian Jean and Airdrie MLA Angela Pitt, Shadow Justice Minister, announced that their party would be putting forward a special motion calling on the NDP government to mandate sexual assault training for anyone under consideration for judicial appointment.

Both Jean and Pitt said recent instances have highlighted that judges and lawyers need training on the state of the law when it comes to crimes of a sexual nature.

"There's been a few cases [recently] where judges have made rulings or made comments that are clearly very insensitive and out of touch with the reality of sexual assault allegations," said Pitt.

Both Jean and Pitt pointed to comments made by Calgary judge Robin Camp, who said a sexual assault victim should have kept her knees together. Jean also brought up the comments of a Nova Scotia judge that said a drunk can consent as he acquitted a Halifax taxi driver of assault. According to Jean, these instances demonstrate that some in the judicial branch still operate based on myths and stereotypes about victims of sexual assault.

According to Pitt and Jean, there is currently no mandate for judges and practicing lawyers to complete training on sexual assault laws.

"There is no standard for this type of training, and even the Government today in question period really had no specific answers as to what kind of sexual assault training is available, and certainly not that it's mandatory."

Pitt said that she hopes this motion will be supported by the NDP and the other opposition parties.

"We think this is a no-brainer issue for everybody in the legislature to support. This is certainly an issue that shouldn't be a partisan issue, it's a human issue."

The motion will be debated on Tuesday after question period. 

 

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