Building privacy and transparency into sexual assault investigations

Sunny Marriner is project lead of the Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review for the Improving Institutional Accountability Project, an initiative funded by the Government of Canada. Stephen McCammon is a legal counsel at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. He provides legal advice on issues relating to privacy, transparency, and accountability with a special focus on how these issues intersect with law enforcement and fundamental rights.

Please be advised: this episode discusses issues related to sexual violence that may be distressing to some listeners.

Trust as critical to maintaining public safety [2:00]Low sexual violence reporting rates in Canada and around the world [4:50]High rates of case attrition (cases that don’t result in a conviction) [6:00]The need for an independent mechanism to review case files/outcomes [8:00]Reasons behind high rates of case attrition [8:38]Outdated views of sexual assault [10:33]About the Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review Project [12:05]The Philadelphia Model for case review [13:28]Bringing a version of the Philadelphia Model to Ontario [14:08]Forging a partnership with the IPC [16:20]How the case review process works [18:05]Viewing sexual violence cases through a community lens [19:55]Challenging perspectives during case review [21:42]Improvements as a result of case review [24:00]Privacy safeguards in the case review framework [27:01]Ensuring accountability, while maintaining confidentiality [30:00]Disclosure of information and consent [31:42]Inviting subject matter experts to participate in case review [36:16]Survivors’ feedback on case review [36:44]Expanding the model to other provinces and communities [37:29]

Resources:

Bringing justice to unfounded cases of sexual assault (Women and Gender Equality Canada)Canadian Framework for Collaborative Police Response on Sexual Violence 
(Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police)Next Generation Law Enforcement (IPC Strategic Priorities 2021-2025) On the front lines of unfounded (the Globe and Mail)

Info Matters is a podcast about people, privacy, and access to information hosted by Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. We dive into conversations with people from all walks of life and hear stories about the access and privacy issues that matter most to them. 

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The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the IPC does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this podcast, and information from this podcast should not be used or reproduced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. None of the information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast bind the IPC’s Tribunal that may be called upon to independently investigate and decide upon an individual complaint or appeal based on the specific facts and unique circumstances of a given case.