This is the second part of a two-part blog on “Use of Records in Defending Sexual Offence Charges.” Read our first blog here. Over the past 30-odd years, both legislators and Canadian courts have gradually reshaped the law as it relates to sexual offences. First, “twin myth” reasoning was outlawed under s.276 of the Criminal Code of Canada, specifically, the…
In December 2018, amendments to the Criminal Code (sections 278.92 to 278.94) came into force which, for the first time, required defendants in sexual assault cases to disclose material in their possession to the prosecutor (the Crown) and to the complainant before being allowed to use that material at trial. In the years following the amendments, some lower courts had…