Columnists
Feel free to disagree
A disgraced CBC host’s trial for sexual assault charges draws to a close, and while no verdict has been reached—it won’t be reached for a month—it’s been difficult to go anywhere this past week without hearing his name and some discussion on the proceedings.
Reactions to victim testimony have ranged from skepticism to empathy to outrage.
Whatever the trial’s outcome, it was likely a terrible experience for those testifying, and at least an uncomfortable experience for anyone following the story.
And still, despite that, something wonderful has happened. Of course, there’s nothing wonderful about sexual assault—nothing wonderful about the prospect of victims being revictimized or worse, discredited during testimony.
There’s nothing wonderful about the concept of being falsely accused, or not being believed. There’s nothing wonderful about an abuser going free because our justice system just can’t manage these types of cases very well, where evidence is mostly hearsay.
But the fact that trials like this one can be so painful for so many reasons, and the fact that so much of the Canadian public is paying attention does have a wonderful side effect: discussion.
The Canadian legal system, in place to protect its citizens, is so complex we require highly trained and certified professionals to navigate it—just one of the system’s many flaws. But it is easy to ignore those flaws when they don’t directly affect us. And once they do, it is too late to do anything.
When we see cases like this one, it allows lay people to examine our system and consider, using real, tangible events, how that system works.
And even though we get it wrong sometimes, even though we don’t always agree, that conversation is the perfect exercise in democracy.
It is difficult to get everyone engaged in all the different issues that affect our society, especially complex and convoluted ones like the laws surrounding assault. And when the public isn’t engaged, our democratic system isn’t working properly. People are forming opinions and making choices without any context, or they’re not forming any opinions at all.
But when terrible, uncomfortable news stories like this one come up, and we begin to discuss and even disagree—that is when we start to learn. It’s truly a wonderful thing. That is when change gets made—when flaws are laid bare and we can demand that change. It is a rare thing. Too rare.
It will be another month before we learn Jian Ghomeshi’s fate in the Canadian legal system. Experts are already suggesting he won’t be convicted of the crimes of which he stands accused. His fate in the public eye, however, has already been determined.
And while all of this business is uncomfortable and a little discouraging, the conversations that are taking place in living rooms and coffee shops, and on social media platforms around the country make up for that by slowly changing our points of view.
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