A Second Case...

 The second case we are following also occurred at CFB Borden near Barrie Ontario, approximately one hour north of Toronto. 

Current Status of the Case:

The applications for private prosecution were submitted by the "informant" (also the victim) to a Justice of the Peace (JP) in Barrie Ontario on 24 June 2024. The Pre-Enquête Hearing was held on 24 January 2025 where the Justice issued process, which means they issued a summons for each of the accused to appear in court to answer to the charge of Sexual Assault. 

As of 16 April 2025, both accused have now been served and processed for the charge of Sexual Assault (s. 271) and both have attended court through legal representation.

The Barrie Crown Attorney's Office has confirmed to the victim that they are indeed going to formally intervene in these private prosecutions in order to fully prosecute both men on the charge of Sexual Assault. 

The victim has been successful!!!

The Crown also admitted their mistake in recommending a publication ban at Case Management Court on 26 February 2025, they apologized to the victim for that mistake, and indicated that they had already begun the paperwork to have the ban lifted, per the victim's request. It was promised the ban should be lifted within a few weeks. 

The publication ban has now been revoked!  

(as of 02 April 2025) 

This means we can mention the names of the victim without legal consequences.  *However, we are very cognizant of the fact that the victim could be sued for defamation if both perpetrators are somehow not found guilty and they feel the victim went out of her way to make negatively impact their reputations. We see this as a gigantic moral lapse in the law, but must keep it in mind when publishing information that the victim has shared with us. She has therefore asked us not to publish any names unless the case is published by media outlets without her involvement. We will respect her wishes, always.

UPDATE 15 APRIL 2025:  

A news article has now been published naming the accused gang rapists in this case; their names are in the article linked here: 

https://www.barrietoday.com/court/two-longtime-military-officers-accused-of-historic-sex-assault-at-cfb-borden-10479945

Next update: 16 April 2025

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NOTES ON PREVIOUS STEPS OF THE PROCESS (ongoing)

Pre-Enquête Hearing - 24 Jan 2025

The Justice did decide that the informant was bringing forward credible evidence that a crime was committed (prima fascia was established). The Justice then issued a summons for each of the two persons accused. Both men were summoned to appear at the Barrie courthouse on February 26th 2025. The Justice also ruled on the recommendation (by the Crown) for a Publication Ban on the victim's name, but the victim argued against that and the Justice ruled in her favour. So there is to be NO publication ban on this case as of 26 Feb 2025.

Unfortunately the victim is not aware of whether the second part to the private prosecution process, where the Crown Attorney's office decides whether they will "intervene" in the process, has been completed or not. At the hearing, the Crown Attorney present indicated that she was not read up on the file, that it had yet to be assigned, and so they were not prepared to ask the witness (in this case the witness is also the victim, who is also the informant for the private prosecution) any questions about the evidence they've had in hand for months. The victim was understandably devastated because she'd been preparing to explain very  many things to the prosecutors about what happened the night of the incident. She was also expecting to walk away from the hearing knowing whether the Crown would intervene and prosecute, or stay/withdraw the charges. The victim now feels she is waiting in limbo, again, like she has been since the information was sworn on 24 June 2024. The worst part is that the Crown no longer has the opportunity to ask the victim-witness any questions about the evidence (the time for that was at the pre-enquête hearing), so they are making their decision based solely on what Military Police wrote in their notes / investigation report, which the victim knows is not perfectly accurate. The victim now feels dismissed and voiceless yet again.

The Crown Attorney present did mention to the victim, as she stopped in the hallway on her way passed, that the victim would be advised of the Crown's decision regarding the prosecution / stay / withdrawing of charges, within a few weeks; definitely before February 26th, the day for which both accused have been summoned to court. This did NOT happen. The first appearance for both accused on Wednesday 26 Feb, came and went without the Crown having contacted the victim/witness/informant as promised. Procedure has been ignored in this private prosecution process.

Update on Summons Appearances (in "Case Management Court") - 26 Feb 2025

At the summons hearing in Case Management Court on Feb 26th, one of the accused did appear (actually, his counsel appeared on his behalf) but the other did not. When the Crown Attorney looked at the notes in her system, they indicated that 'service has not been completed', which means, nobody served him the summons issued on 24 Feb, so he had no idea. They made mention that the Kingston Police were unable to find him, but he's not from Kingston... so the victim is now worried that they haven't even checked the paperwork correctly to determine where the other accused lives in order to serve him the summons. This is very frustrating.

Additionally, the matter for the first accused, the one who did have counsel there on his behalf, was referred to March 26th 2025 for an update even though their counsel requested "Disclosure and Crown Pre-Trial (CPT)" which we have gleaned means the Defense Attorneys meet with the Assistant Crown Attorney (ACA) assigned to the case, to discuss what evidence they have (disclose that to the defense) and what might be the next steps (plea hearing, deal, no deal, etc). It was referred to Case Management Court again because the Crown had no notes on the status of the file, only that they were still 'assessing for PC" (probability of conviction). 

The matter for the other accused person who missed this appearance was also referred to 26 March 2025, but we have no idea how he will be made aware of that. Perhaps the courthouse issues a new summons ?  Will it be delivered to the correct person ?  We're really not sure if he'll be advised in time to retain counsel and appear before the Crown on 26 March 2025. 

We at OWP really hope that the Crown/ courthouse gets their ducks in order soon so that this case is not delayed any longer than needed. Those "SCC Jordan ruling" timelines (18 months for OJC and 30 months for SCJ) are approaching quickly and the nobody wants this case to be withdrawn due to delays and timelines....

Also, unfortunately for us and for the victim who didn't want this, the Justice who was presiding on February 26th saw that there was no publication ban on the case and asked the Crown about it. They thought it was a mistake and when the actual victim, who had been watching via Zoom, interrupted to indicate that the ruling had already been made at the pre-enquête hearing in January, the Crown acknowledged but dismissed her objection and explanation, and then proceeded to request a new publication ban regardless; it was imposed by the Justice presiding. The Justice then advised the victim to seek counsel in order to have the ban lifted... which is annoying only because she HAD sought counsel and HAD argued against the ban already, at the pre-enquête hearing. Now she has to do it all over again... 

As far as we at OWP are concerned, there is now a publication ban, as of 26 Feb 2025. We absolutely cannot publish the victim's name (good thing we hadn't already) and the victim has to work hard filling out forms in order to request the ban be lifted. We find it a shame that the Crown present was not better informed so that she could know that a ban had already been proposed and ruled on. It looks like nobody in the Crown Attorney's office has taken this file of evidence and actually read / reviewed it yet. This is extremely difficult for the victim. 

 *we at OWP shaking our heads*

We're not sure if the next hearing on March 26th 2025 will be open to public or not. The Justice said it would be in "Virtual Case Management Court" at 9:00am for "an update". So we don't know if that will just be an update to make sure all accused are present, or the actual "Disclosure and CPT" as requested by the defense counsel who was there.  

Update on Case Management Court (CMC) - 26 March 2025

Funnily enough, as the victim watched all the cases being brought forward in case management court via ZOOM online, the exact same thing happened AGAIN!

Counsel for the first accused was present, brought up the case number, and asked for a referral to CMC i-n 3 weeks, on 16 April 2025, after which they will have had a CPT (crown pre-trial: discussion between attorneys from both sides). The publication ban imposed at the last CMC hearing on 26 Feb was mentioned and that was it. Nobody mentioned the other accused as being part of this case. So the victim watched on...

At the end of all the cases on the docket being called, the victim was the only person left in the courtroom (yes, even though she was online, they noticed her) and she was asked which matter she was present for. The victim asked about the second accused. They found the case number on the docket (not the published version) and attempted to address it. They noticed that service was YET AGAIN not completed. The victim kept her composure and explained the whole story of the private prosecution, the summons not being served twice now, and the fact that the person lives in Ottawa but the summons was served in Kingston for some reason. This time, the Justice listened to the victim, respected her as a person, and asked pointed questions about the case. She clarified the address of the accused and added extra information to make sure it would be served this time. The victim felt HEARD for the first time in a long time, and that felt really amazing. 

A new summons was issued for the second accused to appear before the court in CMC on 21 May 2025.

Update from Crown-Victim discussion - 28 March 2025

We can only share what the victim was able to share with us, but we can say that the Crown has officially shared their decision to pursue the charges. They will intervene officially, and they will not stay or withdraw the charges. They are prepared to take this all the way to trial if needed. This felt SO VALIDATING for the victim! To FINALLY have someone in the legal profession validate that this IS a case that should be tried in a court of law. The decision by military lawyers not to lay charges seems more and more related to the media environment in 2021.... less and less like an actual problem with the complaint or evidence.