The rights of a complainant, and the public, must weigh on the fairness of a trial as well, the court said. Rape shield laws began appearing in Canada four decades ago to prevent a complainant in a sexual assault case from having evidence of their sexual history used to discredit them. "I think that my client has been incredibly courageous in taking this all the way up to the Supreme Court," she said. "You know, she did that on behalf of all sexual assault complainants in Canada." "We're going to spend days of court time examining particular messages and determining, 'does this meet this broad definition of privacy that the Supreme Court has articulated?"

Source: CBC News June 30, 2022 08:10 UTC