OTTAWA – The Federal Court says a judge who once asked a sexual assault victim why she couldn’t keep her knees together will not be hearing cases until further notice.
The court decided earlier this month that Justice Robin Camp would not be handling cases involving sexual issues, pending a review.
The Canadian Judicial Council is investigating Camp’s conduct of a trial he heard last year when he was a provincial court judge in Alberta.
READ MORE: Alberta judge under review after questioning morals of sex assault complainant
The judge acquitted a man of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman but the verdict was overturned on appeal.
Watch below: Global’s video coverage of Justice Robin Camp’s controversial comments and subsequent review
Complaints were launched against Camp’s trial remarks, saying they showed the judge was sexist and disrespectful of the woman and disregarded the law.
READ MORE: ‘Victim-blaming is still alive and well,’ says Sheldon Kennedy on Alberta judge
A spokesman for Chief Justice Paul Crampton says Camp’s priority now is to take gender sensitivity counselling.
During the trial in Calgary, Camp questioned the woman’s morals, called her “unsavoury” and suggested that “sex and pain sometimes go together?” He also referred to her a few times as “the accused.”
In finding the man not guilty, the judge told him that all men have to be more gentle and careful with women, and that he should pass the message onto his friends so they can “protect themselves” and not “get into trouble.”
READ MORE: Why don’t women report rape? Because most get no justice when they do
Camp has apologized to the woman in the case and all women who may have been frustrated by his comments.
“I have come to recognize that things that I said and attitudes I displayed during the trial of this matter, and in my decision, caused deep and significant pain to many people,” he said in a statement.
“I am deeply troubled that things that I said would hurt the innocent. I am speaking particularly to those who hesitate to come forward to report abuse of any kind and who are reluctant to give evidence about abuse, sexual or otherwise.”
16X9 INVESTIGATION: Coming forward in court – Women break their silence of sexual assault
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