Nathalia Comrie faced opposition when she asked to move a sexual assault case into a restorative justice process. The province says sexual offences are ineligible for restorative justice because they’re too serious. But where does that leave survivors?
When Nathalia Comrie told the Crown attorney she didn’t want to testify at the sexual assault trial of her ex-partner, she said the prosecutor yelled at her.The Crown told her that “feminists fought for so many years to have marital rape laws, and that I wasn’t being brave and courageous,” Comrie said.
“Moreover, sexual offences involve violations of sexual integrity, privacy, and autonomy which can have enduring and substantial effects upon victims and the community at large,” the ministry told the Star in a statement. “These crimes pose a serious threat to individual and public safety, and they are prosecuted vigorously.”Three women, including Comrie, spoke to the Star about their painful experiences as complainants in criminal sexual assault cases.
The “overwhelming feedback” from an extensive study speaking to survivors by Toronto-based organization WomenatthecentrE was that the criminal system “is as violent as the rape itself,” said executive director Nneka MacGregor. And restorative justice can also mean working with each person separately, said Kate Crozier, director of programs at Kitchener-based Community Justice Initiatives, which has offered restorative justice for decades, at no cost to participants.
In the criminal system, “most victims are left traumatized and trapped in self-blame,” said the paper, produced by “I did not feel OK taking part in a system that not only oppressed me and silenced me throughout the process, but also has been oppressing and silencing my people for generations to come,” she said.
Comrie also did her own research and outlined her reasoning in a letter addressed to the prosecutor and others. She suggested that the charges be put on hold to pursue the alternative route, and that the criminal proceedings could be reactivated if things didn’t go well. Both described initial encounters with the Crown attorney as lacking in compassion and empathy. “There was no connection, no learning to understand,” Setter said.
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