In a first for Ontario, new judges will have to undergo training that includes sexual assault law — but the requirement will not apply to those already on the bench.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said Ontario Court Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve deserves credit “for taking this very important step and now expressly mandating in the education plan that new judges be trained in sexual assault law and other issues, in the context of social issues.”

The new “education plan … expressly mandates new judges, when they are appointed, to get that training,” Naqvi said at Queen’s Park.

The courts have come under increasing pressure — from victims’ groups as well as MPPs at Queen’s Park, two of whom introduced private member’s bills to force the issue — after a number of cases across the country in which judges made questionable comments or rulings. One Alberta judge asked a sexual assault complainant why she didn’t keep her “knees together” to prevent the assault.

Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott, who has been vocal about the issue in the legislature, said the changes announced Wednesday don’t go far enough because training isn’t required for all judges.

“Mandatory training and mandatory sexual assault training are two different things,” said Scott, the party’s women’s issues critic.

“The judges’ continuing education plan for this coming year says only that judges are ‘encouraged’ to attend criminal law seminars, which include an ‘option’ of sexual assault training. Nothing seems to have changed with regard to making sexual assault training mandatory for all judges, so this will do little to reassure sexual assault victims.”

The new judicial education plan was quietly released late last month after receiving approval from the Ontario Court of Justice’s Education Secretariat and the Ontario Judicial Council.

Naqvi had said the government could not introduce legislation because it must respect judicial independence, but that he had spoken several times to Maisonneuve about the importance of training in sexual assault law.

The Ontario court had been “following the current public and legislative discussions concerning judicial education on sexual assault,” Kate Andrew, communications officer for the Office of the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, had previously told the Star.

Under the changes, she said Wednesday, the “legal and social context issues (around sexual assault) … are integrated into various programs,” though she could not provide specifics about how much time is spent covering them.

“The newly appointed judges’ education includes education on sexual assault issues but it is not exclusively focused on sexual assault,” she said via email.

In Ottawa, MPs from all parties pledged their support for a bill from Rona Ambrose, the Conservative interim leader, which would require new federally appointed judges to take sexual assault training. The legislation has been criticized by the Canadian Judicial Council.

Last month at Queen’s Park, both Scott and Liberal MPP Cristina Martins put forward private member’s bills regarding mandatory training.

Martins’ bill would amend the Courts of Justice Act and provide training on sexual assault law, evidence and sexual consent.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Scott’s bill would compel both new and current judges to undergo comprehensive education on sexual assault law.

The bills came in response to an outcry after a number of cases involving judges across the country — including the “knees together” judge in Calgary, who eventually resigned from the bench, and another judge in Halifax who acquitted a taxi driver, ruling it was possible that a severely intoxicated woman consented.