Canadian law protects false accusers

Vincent J. Curtis

16 Dec 22

RE: Mac prof found not guilty of sexual assault.  By Kate McCullough.  The Hamilton Spectator 16 Dec 22.

After the Jian Ghomeshi trial, law procedures in Canada for sexual assault were twisted out of all recognition of justice.  Accusers, whether true of false, have their identities protected even as the innocent have their reputations trashed beyond repair.

In the Dany Fortin case, a former classmate got jealous as Fortin made General and she did not, and allegedly waited 34 years to bring, after her retirement, the accusation that brought down the man famous for handling the logistics of vaccine distribution.  The case was so weak, it should never had been brought to trial, but the attitude of the times required that the woman be believed; and her case against Fortin was publicly and easily demolished.  The judge concluded that the accuser was mistaken, but she pays no price for her error and her anonymity remains protected in retirement, even as the innocent Fortin is treated as a leper by the Department of National Defense.

In the Mac case, the pressure of the times required that the courts be used by a jilted lover to destroy the reputation of her professor-paramour.  An accusation of sexual assault is highly defamatory, regardless of whether the charge is true or not; but the accuser’s reputation is shielded from public shame even when the evidence shows that her true motivation was jealousy of a younger rival.  The evidence was such that reasonable doubt was the best to be expected, and because the police refused to challenge the complainant in private, the trail went ahead to its public catastrophe, 

Perhaps the prof deserves the loss of his reputation and employment, he was certainly shown to be a cad, but his false accuser remains a Ph.D. candidate untouched by scandal and able to bring a like charge again.

-30-