Opinion | Sexual assault survivors need more control over publication bans

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Opinion: Whether a survivor chooses to have their identity shielded by a publication ban or not, their choice is valid. What our system must strive to do is to make that a meaningful choice and to support survivors in exercising agency to make it.

There are many ways it systematically fails to provide survivors support, choice, and agency. How the system imposes publication bans on the identity of complainants in sexual assault cases isMany women, particularly Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, and otherwise marginalized survivors, are blamed and made to feel ashamed for being assaulted. Shielding their identity through imposing publication bans was thought to be a way to protect them when reporting a sexual assault.

Whether a survivor chooses to have their identity shielded by a publication ban or not, their choice is valid. What our system must strive to do is to make that a meaningful choice and to support survivors in exercising agency to make it. As the bill makes its way through Parliament, legislators must act to ensure victims are not criminalized for failing to comply with a publication ban on their own identity.

As advocates for survivors of sexual violence, we know that strengthening systems, supports, and advice surrounding publication bans is an important but small part of strengthening our broader approach to sexual violence. We continue to see survivors disbelieved by police, courts, and the public.

 

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