It is with a heavy heart and much regret that we come before the public today with our hat in hand. Without a doubt, most Canadian’s have heard of the horrible abuse exacted upon numerous women by Jian Ghomeshi, our former client. We at Navigator wish to clear the air, and to help meaningfully contribute to the dialogue on sexual assault that we have so profoundly polluted.

To begin; when Jian approached us to represent him, the charges against him were less numerous and without a single person giving away their identity. No one could be contacted to confirm or deny these allegations, as is often the case when allegations of sexual assault are made against men. Why exactly so few sexual assault and rape victims come forward is hard to know, but one thing is certain; when women come forward with allegations of sexual assault and rape, they are shamed for their sexual identity, and often blamed for their actions leading to the rape.

We at Navigator contributed to that atmosphere of intimidation, and for that, we are sorry.

We contributed to it by encouraging our client to go on the offensive – suing CBC, and divulging intimate details about Jian’s sex life was an attempt to get ahead of the game and frame the debate. Language was explicity picked to discredit and defame the accusers and to trivialize their claims. We wanted to play on the sympathies of anyone that has had a ‘jilted ex’ make false claims about them, and to warp the concept of consent.

An atmosphere where that can be accomplished successfully is what many people call rape culture. It is a mind set such that when sexual violence happens, dispersions are cast upon the accuser and victim by default, and sympathy lent to the accused in spite of the heinous nature of the claims against them. We played on those biases and sympathies in a strategy to try and help Jian.

For this, we are sorry, and to the victims of sexual violence, we cannot possibly express the depths of our remorse for intimidating you. Jian abused women, abused his position of power, and used his wealth to try and buy impunity. We attempted to sell him that impunity at your expense.

Moving forward we vow to review our policy with accepting any sexual abuse case, and offer free representation to those women who we have slighted so profoundly. We were wrong, and now, we want to make that right.

Thank you,

Imaginary, decent, representative of Navigator