Summary
"In 2010, the Department of Justice Canada released a report, Testimonial Support Provisions for Children and Vulnerable Adults (Bill C-2): Case Law Review and Perceptions of the Judiciary (Bala et al. 2010) referred herein as the 2010 Bill C-2 Case Law Review. This report included an analysis and summary of the reported Canadian case law decided since the enactment of Bill C-2 (January 2, 2006) up to June 30, 2009 and considered the question: Since Bill C-2 came into effect, what does case law reveal about the new law and how has Canadian legal literature dealt with these legal reforms? It deals most comprehensively with provisions relating to child witnesses, but also considers accommodations for adult vulnerable witnesses. This review of case law from June 30, 2009 to December 31, 2012, is intended to supplement the 2010 Bill C-2 Case Law Review; it deals only with how these provisions have impacted the experience of vulnerable adult victims and witnesses. In order to give context to this 2013 Bill C-2 Case Law Review, there is some duplication of the discussion of cases considered in the 2010 Bill C-2 Case Law Review, and occasionally limited reference to pre-2006 case law that interpreted the previous provisions."--Page 1.
Contents
1. Introduction -- 2. Method -- 3. Accommodations for vulnerable adult witnesses -- 3.1. The legislative scheme for support persons and testimony behind a screen or outside of the courtroom -- 3.1.1. Support person – s. 486.1 -- 3.1.2. Testimony outside the court room or behind a screen – s. 486.2 -- 4. The purpose of the Bill C-2 amendments -- 5. Preventing questioning by self-represented accused: Section 486.3 -- 6. Video-recorded evidence: Section 715.2 -- 7. Section 16 of the Canada Evidence Act -- 8. Summary -- References -- Appendix A. Criminal Code: Sections 486.1 and 486.2 -- Appendix B. Case summaries: support persons and testimony outside the courtroom -- Appendix C. Cases on Section 486.3: appointment of Counsel for cross-examinations.