MPP Fife wants clarity on sexual assault backlog
Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife hopes her new private member’s bill will bring greater transparency and accountability to how sexual assault cases are handled in the justice system
Her bill, Lydia’s Law, draws on recommendations by the provincial Auditor General in 2019. The recommendations called on the province to report yearly on criminal cases that have been waiting for a court decision for more than eight months, and analyze the reasons for the delays.
Fife’s bill is named for Lydia, a survivor of sexual assault who had to wait almost two years to see justice.
“Alarming numbers” of sexual assault cases are withdrawn or charges stayed before the trial date, Fife said in a news release: 1,326 cases in 2022 and 1,171 in 2023. Many of those were due to administrative delays and lack of funding.
In 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada set a deadline of 30 months for courts to complete trials in Superior Court, and many cases are thrown out for failing to meet that deadline.
The province announced $72 million over two years in 2021, to try and address the court backlog. But the large number of cases that didn’t make it to trial shows that the problem persists, says Fife a New Democrat MPP, arguing that without transparency and accountability, it’s difficult to know if the money is being spent effectively.
Fife tabled the bill on April 18. It will be debated in the Legislature on May 15.