Justice Robin Camp pleads ignorance in 'knees together' rape case
By
Michael Platt, Calgary Sun
First posted: Wednesday, September 07, 2016 05:28 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, September 08, 2016 12:42 AM EDT
Irony, thy name is 19 — specifically, Section 19 of the Criminal Code of Canada.
There, in plain English, you’ll find the law explaining ignorance is not a valid legal defense in this country: “Ignorance of the law by a person who commits an offence is not an excuse for committing the offence,” it reads.
Simple, and very straight forward.
And yet with great irony, the future career of Justice Robin Camp appears to hinge on just that: his ignorance of Canada’s law and its treatment of victims of sexual assault, including their apparently morality and sexual past.
If it were his own courtroom, the Calgary judge would scoff at the excuses so far offered in a case that’s became infamous for Camp’s callous questioning of the alleged rape victim, including “why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?”.
Criminals can’t use it, but apparently, ignorance is a defence that’s good enough for Camp, who stands to lose his job for shaming Canadian justice with his knuckle-dragging commentary during that 2014 trial.
Apparently, Justice Camp just didn’t know any better.
“I realized he was sincerely committed to learning what had gone wrong,” were the words of Justice Deborah McCawley, called to the stand to speak on Camp’s behalf at a Canadian Judicial Council’s inquiry into his conduct.
There, in a downtown Calgary hotel, a panel of three Superior Court judges and two senior lawyers are tasked with deciding if Camp should keep his job, with their recommendation then sent on to Parliament.
On Tuesday, the first day of the inquiry, the complainant in the sexual assault case spoke against Camp, saying his questions made her feel “like I was some kind of ****.”
On Wednesday, it was the Camp team’s turn to defend his sullied reputation.
McCawley, a Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench judge, describes herself as a “mentor” to Camp, after he approached her seeking education and guidance about how he had screwed up so badly in handling the sexual assault trial.
“Justice Camp was brutally honest with himself, he was the hardest critic he could have been,” McCawley told the public inquiry, which continues on Thursday.
“His motivation was very much the pain and embarrassment he’d caused the complainant in this case.”
Some cynics might suggest keeping a lucrative job on the bench would be motivation enough for many, but McCawley says Camp was only keen to learn about where he’d gone wrong.
“He worked extremely hard, I found him to be very amenable to learning,” she said.
Somehow, Camp was unaware that asking an alleged victim why she didn’t bother to scream or just move her lower body out of range isn’t acceptable, nor was repeatedly calling the complainant “the accused”.
His ignorance of the law was apparently so vast, Alberta’s Court of Appeal made mention of it in overturning Camp’s acquittal of the accused in the sexual assault case, forcing the whole matter to be tried again.
“We are satisfied that the trial judge’s comments throughout the proceedings and in his reasons gave rise to doubts about the trial judge’s understanding of the law governing sexual assault,” reads the ruling.
It went on to say, “Sexual stereotypes and stereotypical myths, which have long since been discredited, may have found their way into the trial judge’s judgment.”
Somehow, despite being immersed in 2016 and a society that abandoned victim blaming decades ago, the unlearned judge was totally unaware he was out of line — and of course, he wants forgiveness.
McCawley says she went with Camp to various courses, including “Sexual Assault 101” and “how to conduct a sexual assault trial,” while discussing how he might have handled the botched case better.
“He was sincerely committed to learning what had gone wrong,” she testified.
“He was deeply remorseful and full of regret because he realized his words has wounded a number of people as well as an institution that he loves.” That part, he gets.
mplatt@postmedia.com
Justice Robin Camp pleads ignorance in 'knees together' rape case | MICHAEL PLAT
Camp didn't know history behind sex assault laws, professor testifies
By
Kevin Martin, Postmedia Network
First posted: Thursday, September 08, 2016 07:48 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, September 08, 2016 08:43 PM EDT
Justice Robin Camp knew the law as it pertained to sexual assault cases, he just didn’t understand the history behind it, a law professor testified Thursday.
Brenda Cossman, a professor in the University of Toronto law faculty, said she was asked to teach Camp where he went wrong when he made insensitive and inappropriate comments during a Calgary sexual assault trial.
Camp, now a justice with the Federal Court, was a provincial court judge when he presided over the trial of Alexander Wagar.
He acquitted Wagar after making comments to the complainant asking her why she didn’t keep her knees together, or sink her bottom into a bathroom basin to prevent him from penetrating her.
Camp’s ruling has been overturned and a new trial is scheduled for November.
Cossman said she met with Camp for five educational sessions to try to give him a better understanding of why his comments in the case were inappropriate.
And she told a Canadian Judicial Council committee presiding over an inquiry into his conduct, Camp seemed immediately receptive to learning gender sensitivity.
“He just seemed very earnest and remorseful,” Cossman told the hearing, which could ultimately see Camp removed from the bench.
“I think that he understood that the language he used was extremely problematic and insensitive,” she said.
“My best assessment ... was that he did understand the law of sexual assault, but he really didn’t understand at all why we had it and the history with respect to that.”
Cossman didn’t think Camp’s conduct at the trial was rooted in rape myths such as women who have previously had sex are likely to want it.
But she agreed his comments could be seen as being so.
“I’m not in any way defending any of these comments, I think these comments are extremely insensitive,” she said.
Cossman said she conveyed to Camp “why these comments seemed so inappropriate given the history of rape myths.”
The evidence didn’t sit well with a sexual assault survivor who showed up at the hearing, protest signs in tow, to show her disdain for Camp’s conduct.
“I do believe that despite the fact Justice Camp has ... expressed some remorse, I don’t believe that ignorance is acceptable — to say that he wasn’t aware of these things,” said Jessica Daigle, during a break in the hearing.
“Judges, lawyers, etcetera should be treating the victims with dignity,” said Daigle, who was convinced not to proceed with charges against her attacker for fear she would be denigrated on the witness stand.
Camp is scheduled to testify Friday morning.
KMartin@postmedia.com On Twitter: @KMartinCourts
Camp didn't know history behind sex assault laws, professor testifies | Canada |