Excellent comment to the Tyee article:
Ed July 4, 2019
Our Courts are far far too lenient on perpetrators who commit violence against other people, whether the victim is a female, a child or a male.
Our Justice system appears to be set up to condone violence by men against women and children. The perps lawyer just has to get him into some wishy washy counselling and then our courts bring the kids gloves out and the victim seems to be the one on trial.
If anyone reading this can stomach watching horror shows where the bad evil monster always walks away happily into the sunset just go down to a provincial courtroom and watch how victims of violence are deliberately shattered by having the blame shifted to them. This is especially the case when the victim is female or a child of either sex.
Rape, Justice and the Silence after the Silence, From northern BC to New York, the lesson so far is that telling the truth still brings pain, not change by Dorothy Woodend, July 4, 2019, The Tyee
…
In Sangra’s film we meet Jeeti Pooni, who was 11 when an older cousin in the family home raped her in Williams Lake. It took her 25 years to share her story, along with her sisters Kira and Salakshana, who also suffered abuse from the same man.
Like Carroll, the Pooni sisters’ decision to tell their story did not have a Hollywood happy ending.
Almost 12 years after Pooni shared her story, Manjit Singh Virk was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault, one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual intercourse without consent. But last month the B.C. Supreme Court stayed those convictions because the case had taken too long to move through the courts.
In an emotional plea posted on Facebook, Jeeti Pooni asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appeal the decision and to help make things better for victims of sexual violence and abuse.
“I don’t blame women who don’t come forward,” Pooni says in the video. She explains how she and her sisters were re-traumatized by the experience of pursuing their case, how they were made to feel unworthy, disrespected and dehumanized — “like we didn’t matter.”
It’s an experience that keeps many women silent, often for years.
…
The Pooni sisters’ experience showed the cost of pursuing a case of sexual assault.
In an interview with the CBC on June 13, Jeeti Pooni described her experience in coming forward about the abuse by her older cousin.
“Well, back in 2006, my sisters and I saw something that made us believe he was still active. So, it becomes one’s duty to do something about it,” she said. “And I have little girls, and I want to protect them. So, we decided to tell our parents. And then came a phone call from his sister to quash our voice. To tell my sisters to shut up and be quiet, and we didn’t, we took it further.”
[Encana is still active too, so are the law violating Alberta regulators, AER and Alberta Environment. And many people, including authorities, nastily and threateningly came, ordering Ernst to shut up and/or drop her lawsuit or trying to scare her into silence.]
The process dragged on with police reports, a preliminary hearing in 2013, a B.C. Supreme Court trial beginning in 2015 and a conviction in 2018.
Then Virk’s lawyer filed an appeal, arguing that excessive delays meant the accused could not have a fair trial, based on the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2016 “Jordan ruling.” The convictions were stayed and Singh went free.
[Canadian women are often misogynistic too, including female judges.]
It’s an all too familiar scenario. Carroll’s essay brought shrugs from some factions and demoralized sighs of exhaustion from women who are simply worn out.
The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino wrote that it took a few days before she could muster the will even to read it.
“Carroll’s essay — exceptional, devastating, decades in the making — has made me consider how hard it is to understand right away that you’ve been exhausted into submission, especially when submission and endurance feel inextricable,” she wrote. “It’s reminded me of how high I’ve let my own hideosity bar get lately, and also of the fact that no one can lower it again but me.”
…
It’s a horrific struggle to tell these stories.
…
The process of speaking out is an emotional marathon, one that also takes time, money and the will to endure.
…
The stories of Carroll and the Pooni sisters show the training that women receive from family, media and the world at large that keeps them silent, and the current system in place.
Refer also to:
2009 02 12: The Intimidation of Ernst: Members of Harper Government’s Anti-terrorist Squad Intimidate and Harass Ernst after her Legal Papers were Served on Encana, the EUB (now AER) and Alberta Environment
2012 02 21: Vic Toews – You Were Warned: Identity of Vic Toews’ Mistress, Stacey Meek, Revealed
… Call Senator Terry Stratton and ask him if hiring Vic Toews’ mistress and paying her salary with Canadian tax dollars was a political favour, or “just a coincidence”. You may even be able to ask Stacey Meek herself, if she’s the one who picks up! Call 613-947-2224 or email email hidden; JavaScript is required
Or ask Joyce Bateman, the MP Stacey Meek works for. Call 613-992-9475 or email email hidden; JavaScript is required
Transcript here: http://pastebin.com/JbEFyGGh
And to those who say Mr. Toews’ personal life is not relevant to this debate: it became relevant when…
A) Vic Toews’ mistress was hired by the Government of Canada and paid with our tax dollars,
B) Vic used his former mistress and son as tools to paint himself as a devoted family man for political gain, and…
C) Vic Toews attempted to make it legal to steal the personal information of every Canadian citizen with an internet connection, including intimate details about their families.
2017 04 21: Former cabinet minister Vic Toews, appointed to Court of Queen’s Bench by Harper gov’t, broke the law again: “No authority to issue any penalties for the violations.” Will he remain a judge? Of course! In Corrupt Canada, anything goes on the bench (seems misogynistic, abusive, racist, law-violating traits are especially preferred)!
2017 03 23: “Judges: a danger to Canadian women”
2017 06:
2019:
