{"id":11133,"date":"2019-02-15T11:14:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T16:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leaf.ca\/?p=11133"},"modified":"2020-11-27T11:16:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T16:16:53","slug":"leaf-celebrates-supreme-court-of-canada-ruling-in-r-v-jarvis","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.leaf.ca\/fr\/news\/leaf-celebrates-supreme-court-of-canada-ruling-in-r-v-jarvis\/","title":{"rendered":"LEAF celebrates Supreme Court of Canada ruling in R. v. Jarvis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LEAF celebrates today\u2019s release of the Supreme Court of Canada\u2019s ruling in R. v. Jarvis<\/em>, the first occasion our country\u2019s highest court has had to interpret the sexual offense of voyeurism in section 162(1) of the Criminal Code<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling is an important contribution to the advancement of women\u2019s and girls\u2019 equality in the digital age.  By rejecting a narrow, location-based definition of privacy, the Court refused to allow historically gendered ideas about the public and private sphere to taint or narrow the real life protections that Parliament intended to extend to Canadian women. Instead, the Court adopted a nuanced, contextual test centered on circumstances where women expect to be \u201cfree from the type of intrusion\u201d at issue, in line with a modern society in which women strive to enjoy true equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s ruling will allow Canadian women and girls to engage in public life with greater confidence that the law will protect them from demeaning, non-consensual intrusions into their sexual integrity and autonomy.  The Supreme Court has sent a clear message that crimes of image-based sexual violence will not be tolerated in Canada. The decision will have positive impact on the day to day lives of Canadian women and girls, and the confidence with which they engage in social, cultural, economic, and political life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details of the Case<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In R. v. Jarvis<\/em>, the Supreme Court considered whether a male high school teacher who secretly filmed his female students\u2019 breasts with a camera pen had violated their \u201creasonable expectations of privacy\u201d and was therefore guilty of voyeurism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voyeurism is a fundamentally gendered crime that disproportionately affects women and girls.  LEAF intervened to argue that \u201cprivacy\u201d in this context must therefore be understood as a concept that protects the sexual integrity and autonomy of women and girls participating in public life.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At trial, Jarvis was acquitted on the basis that the recordings were not made \u201cfor a sexual purpose\u201d.  The Court of Appeal for Ontario reversed this finding but upheld the acquittal on the basis that the students had no reasonable expectation of privacy in \u201cpublic\u201d space \u2013 namely, their high school. In support of this finding, the Court pointed to the fact that the students were filmed in common areas where they expected others to see them, and because they were being recorded by the school\u2019s security cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reversing this decision, the Supreme Court noted that, by filming his young female students, Jarvis\u2019 actions constituted a gross breach of the trust relationship between teachers and students.  He also contravened a formal school board policy prohibiting such recordings, and used hidden technology to make close-range recordings that predominantly focused on their breasts. In the circumstances, the students had a reasonable expectation that they would not be subject to the type of recording that occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court added that individuals \u201cgoing about their day-to-day activities \u2013 whether attending school, going to work, taking public transit or engaging in leisure pursuits\u2026reasonably expect not to be the subject of targeted recording focused on their intimate body parts (whether clothed or unclothed) without their consent\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These comments helpfully clarify that women and girls do not abandon their privacy interests \u2013 and specifically, their right to be free from unauthorized intrusions into their sexual integrity \u2013 when they enter public spaces where they know they can be observed by others. The Supreme Court instead endorsed a nuanced definition of privacy that reflects the \u201ctypical or ordinary understanding\u201d that \u201ca person may be in circumstances where she can expect to be the subject of certain types of observation or recording but not to be the subject of other types.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LEAF is pleased that the Supreme Court has recognized that voyeurism is a violation of sexual integrity and is hopeful that future decisions will continue to recognize the equality harms that image-based sexual violence causes women and girls. R v. Jarvis<\/em> will act as a critical precedent in future cases, as technology enables new forms of violence against women to emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n