On January 19, the Women's Law Forum's (WLF) Glass Ceilings speaker series tackled violence against women with a three-person panel consisting of the Honourable Kathleen Ganley, Minister of Justice and Solicitor General for Alberta; Karen Hewitt, Q.C., a Crown prosecutor with the Specialized Prosecutions Branch of Alberta Justice; and Dr. Maryanne Pearce (via Skype), a researcher on missing and murdered Indigenous women currently serving as a senior manager with the RCMP in Ottawa.
All three panellists have significant professional experience working with women who have experienced violence. Minister Ganley has worked with RESOLVE Alberta, which supports research on ending violence against girls and women. Hewitt, whose caseload primarily relates to organized crime, human trafficking, and sexual assault, is also a sessional instructor teaching advanced criminal courses at UAlberta Law. Pearce's extensive research on missing and murdered vulnerable women has been used by the RCMP and other government organizations that investigate violence against women.
The overarching theme of the discussion was the intersectionality of gendered power imbalances in society and the criminal justice system. All three panellists agreed that social and mainstream media can either help or hinder justice, including sentencing, the trial process, and survivors' likelihood of reporting crimes. The panel also discussed the need for media to strike a balance between portraying the reality of sexual violence and protecting the dignity of survivors and their families.
Hewitt commented on the prevalence of sexual violence against women and children on television, served up as entertainment. She spoke as a parent about educating children from a young age to think critically about female images and character portrayals they encounter in the media and in video games targeted to boys.
Although sexual violence predominantly affects women, the panel encouraged further discourse to address the systemic sexism in our society and legal system, noting that it requires that everyone - men and women - engage with this difficult subject. She also asserted that even though women possess more power now than they did in the past, myths and misconceptions about girls and women still persist and serve to reinforce traditional power structures.
Minister Ganley noted that efforts aimed at breaking down myths and assumptions relating to women and sexual consent among junior high and high school students are showing signs of success.
Hewitt provided the audience with some insight on the holistic, humanistic approach to her work with survivors of violence in her capacity as a Crown prosecutor, centred on a firm understanding of who that survivor is. She reviews how police conducted the investigation to determine whether a survivor's story accurately reflects her background or whether it has been undermined by her perceived position in society, and whether the survivor has an adequate support system. Does the survivor trust the criminal justice system? Does she understand the trial process, including cross-examination? All of these elements take time, patience, and resources to discover, but it does give the survivor the power to tell her story.
In a society where violence against women frequently goes unreported, public resources to empower women are crucial. Minister Ganley noted her belief that social support, including women's shelters, improves our society as a whole because it gives people a better shot at life. Hewitt encouraged the law students in the room to volunteer their time to reach out to people who need legal information. It can be as simple as helping a person in need to fill out his or her taxes, or to navigate social services and help connect people with the support they need.
In the same vein, Pearce shared some of her strategies for working with vulnerable persons, noting that lawyers can, for example, gain trust by dismantling some overt trappings of power. This may be as easy as taking off a suit jacket or changing into jeans, and being mindful of posture by sitting next to a vulnerable individual rather than looming over them or sitting on opposite sides of a desk.
The panellists' closing remarks to those in attendance were simple: develop relationships and grow your networks now - in law school - and then stay in touch and continue to learn from one another.