Sexual assault survivors calling on Ontario to lift policy that limits access to community justice programs [Video]

Marlee Liss still remembers how dehumanizing it felt to sit through the preliminary trial of the man accused of sexually assaulting her, disturbed by how she was treated while testifying, as she answered a series of invasive questions. 

It took three years for the Toronto woman’s case to make it to trial. The whole time, she said, she didn’t necessarily want her alleged assailant to go to jail — she just wanted him to take accountability. 

Thanks to a referral from her Crown attorney, the case was put on pause in 2019 so that Liss could pursue a community justice program, also known as restorative justice. There, she got to hear her alleged assailant take accountability in a private room, apologizing to her directly. He also underwent months of therapy.

Liss said the prosecutor agreeing to resolve the case outside the daunting courtroom was the most healing moment in the entire process. 

“It was the first time …