WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it. Jewel Pierre-Roscelli figured she had two choices once she realized the man who’d offered to drive her home was instead going to sexually assault her — she could either fight back and risk her life or survive the night.She chose the latter, eventually escaped, reported the assault and waited for justice.It never came.”What this person did to me was wrong. It wasn’t consensual,” Pierre-Roscelli said. “But the Crown prosecutor called me, and she said based on the evidence that you’ve submitted, we don’t feel it’s enough for him to be charged. She said, ‘So it’s over.'”In that moment, the Winnipegger became part of a national statistic — one of almost 900,000 people who are sexually assaulted each year in Canada, most of whom don’t get justice in the courts.WATCH | Victims, advocates say sexual assault survivors still aren’t getting justice:Why sex assault survivors say the justice system is failing themSurvivors and advocates describe trauma in their search for justice.”My life absolutely got turned upside down, and I’ve been trying to just continue surviving,” Roscelli said. “And this person just lived their life. They’re still out there living their life.”It’s why in March 2024, the Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime struck a special task force to assess how survivors of sexual violence are treated in the justice system, and how it impacts both reporting and outcomes.Statistics Canada’s latest data, released in November 2024, said of the approximately 900,000 sexual assaults in a year, six per cent of the victims reported the crime to police.Of those who did report, only about one-third of the cases resulted in charges, and fewer than half of those ended up in convictions.Those statistics aren’t just grim — they’ve remained virtually unchanged for decades. (In 2000-01, Stats Canada reported that few sexual assault cases ended up in court, and of those that did, they had among the lowest conviction rates of all crimes against persons: 43 per cent).The task force is expected to release their report — and recommendations to remedy the issue — on Nov. 19.Trauma counsellor Isabel Daniels has a message for survivors of sex assault: Your story matters. (Warren Kay/CBC)Survivors and advocates say it’s a long overdue review.”Some of us commit suicide because of these assaults,” said Isabel Daniels, a Winnipeg survivor, who now provides trauma counselling for victims.”Some of us just never live life again. They’re just trying to survive day to day with their mental health … when this person is still walking with the freedom and the arrogance of getting away with sexual assault.”Jewel Pierre-Roscelli doesn’t need the report to tell her how the court system fails sexual assault survivors. She lived it.The justice system was “made without me in mind. I’m not meant to get justice,” she said.Her ordeal began late one night in Winnipeg, in September 2023. What more do they need?- Jewel Pierre-RoscelliShe’d run into a professional acquaintance at a social. He wanted to party with her afterwards, but she said no. She was drunk. She just wanted to go home.Instead, he drove to a highway outside the city limits, and then to a motel (she had no idea where), where she was sexually assaulted.”I had to think.… Do I fight and potentially end up be hurt more than what’s going to happen, or just survive?” she said. “I thought he was going to kill me and leave me somewhere.”Once she escaped, she went to the hospital and reported the assault to police.She quickly learned that her trauma had no place in the legal system. Repeatedly she was asked, “Did you say ‘No?'””Well, did I say yes? No, I didn’t. I didn’t say yes ever. So why did you ask that?” she said. We are working with a justice system that is designed to protect perpetrators.- Alexa BarkleyShe shared everything she had with authorities to prove she did not consent, she said, including text messages she’d sent to the accused prior to the assault, spelling out that she wasn’t interested, she was drunk and she just wanted to go home.It wasn’t enough. “That’s what I don’t understand. So what? What more do they need?” she said.Alexa Barkley has the same question.”We are working with a justice system that is designed to protect perpetrators,” said Barkley, a Toronto-based survivor and advocate with EVE — End Violence Everywhere. “I think we need a complete overhaul, quite frankly.”At issue, in part, is the concept of consent — what it looks like and, equally importantly, what it doesn’t look like, she said. Survivor Alexa Barkley is calling for a ‘complete overhaul’ of the justice system, when it comes to sex assault cases. (Submitted by Alexa Barkley)Sometimes “there is a huge misunderstanding of what is normal for survivors to do in a traumatic situation,” Barkley said.”‘Well, did you say no?’ Obviously if you said ‘No,’ then you did not consent. But there’s so many scenarios, especially when you slip into that survival mode,” she said.”The burden of proof is so high to actually convict somebody. So you need so much evidence about consent, and they’re looking for easy ways to determine that.”Isabel Daniels concurred.”You have to have … big, huge neon signs or something … in order for the courts to believe that you didn’t want it.”Renee Lagimodiere, a Crown attorney with Manitoba Justice, has a message for survivors: “We believe that a sexual assault has happened.”But she agrees that proving lack of consent “can be really complicated and complex.””Especially when it’s not a clear cut ‘I said no and I was fighting.’ You know, what you would see from a TV show. That’s not what sexual assaults look like,” she said.”It’s about what is in the complainant’s mind at the time that this is happening. What is the evidence that we have to establish that?”Karen Bellehumeur said survivors themselves need a lawyer. The Ontario-based former assistant Crown attorney is now in private practice, representing sexual assault survivors. She represented E.M., the complainant in the 2025 trial against five former Canada junior hockey team members. (The five were acquitted.)”Sexual assault … is a crime that in which societal myths and stereotypes continue to prevail,” Bellehumeur said. “There’s a strongly held perception that if you’ve truly been sexually assaulted, you will do certain things.… You’ll fight off the offender.” The most affected person in this process is the survivor.- Karen BellehumeurIt’s a myth that sends a message to survivors.”They question it themselves, and that is a barrier for them to even report it, because they think they’ve done something wrong,” Bellehumeur said.”It’s really important for not only courts to understand that and judges to understand it, but for survivors to understand it themselves.”Bellehumeur is advocating for better legal protection for the victims, with advice from an experienced criminal lawyer who can explain the system.”Anything that they would say to the police or to the Crown must be disclosed to the defence,” she said.”I think it’s only fair to complainants … that they have someone that they can talk to confidentially, that they don’t have to worry about every word that they’re saying being disclosed to an unfriendly party — you know, namely, the counsel to the perpetrator.”Lawyer Karen Bellehumeur wants sexual assault survivors to have legal support in the courts. ‘I think it’s only fair to complainants.’ (Submitted by Karen Bellehumeur)Legal counsel for sexual assault survivors isn’t unprecedented; some Ontario programs offer it for victims of crime. “The reality is the most affected person in this process is the survivor. And the survivor needs to have a little more control and a little bit more protection from the harms that more often than not result in going through the process,” Bellehumeur said.
Why some sexual assault survivors and advocates say the justice system is failing them
