Our Petition to the Government of Canada

When the petition closed on Friday, March 10th at 9:29am EST, we had 4900 signatures from Canadian Citizens in support of our initiative. Thank you to everyone who believes in what we are working towards! What we are looking to accomplish is as follows:

Prosecutors may request a publication ban to protect a victim-complainant of a sexual offence under Criminal Code section 486.4;

  • Prosecutors typically do not advise nor request consent of victim-complainants before a ban is placed on their identity;

  • The Court has no discretion, meaning the ban is immediately implemented;

  • The law does not oblige the Court or prosecutor to inform a victim-complainant that a ban has been placed on their identity, resulting in many being unaware a ban is in force or of the legal repercussions and penalties for breaching it (maximum $5,000 fine and two years in custody);

  • This concerns the informed choice and consent of victim-complainants;

  • These restrictions, when unwanted, are paternalistic and prevent a victim-complainant from exercising freedom of expression, and reinforce shame and the notion that anonymity always equals protection; and

  • Unwanted publication bans can give the impression that abusers are protected and benefit from the restrictions on the victim-complainants as they prevent open communication about the offense and harm experienced.

We, the undersigned, residents and citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to :

1. Allow victim-complainants to attribute their own experience of sexual offences without being charged;

2. Grant adult victim-complainants of sexual offences a choice in the application of a 486.4 publication ban;

3. Produce comprehensive, accessible, multi-lingual, and public information about 486.4 publication bans on government websites;

4. Simplify the process to lift a ban at any time before, during, or after court proceedings without the services of a lawyer; and

5. Allow victim-complainants to opt out of a 486.4 ban on the Victim Impact Statement form.