“My cross-examination was really a revictimization in the very negative sense of the term”, testifies Léa Clermont-Dion, leaning on a table in her house in Mont-Saint-Hilaire in Canada.
“It lasted almost three days and I really felt at one point that I was the accused, that I was the aggressor.
Like her, many women victims of violence find it difficult to deal with the legal proceedings relating to the violence they have experienced.
A process that sometimes resembles a real obstacle course.
It is to better support victims and restore confidence in the judicial system that Quebec is setting up the first court in the world specializing in matters of sexual and domestic violence, the first hearings of which are expected in September.
“Only about 5% of sexual assaults are reported in Quebec.
This means that many people do not denounce or hesitate to denounce, so we must give them confidence and send them a strong signal that the state is there to accompany and support them, "explains Simon Jolin-Barette, Minister of Justice. of the French-speaking province of Canada.
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In Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, in the greater suburbs of Montreal, one of the first pilot projects for the specialized court is taking shape.
A total of ten courts were chosen to carry out the first experiments for three years with the ultimate idea of having a specialized court in each courthouse in five years.