All of the recommendations in a review of how Nova Scotia police and prosecutors handled the high-profile Rehtaeh Parsons case have either been put in place or are underway, the Nova Scotia government said Wednesday.
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The Justice Department said 14 of the 17 recommendations made in the October 2015 report led by former Ontario chief prosecutor Murray Segal have been implemented, and three are in motion.
A progress report released Wednesday said Halifax Regional Police have adopted a sexual assault trauma policy and are dispatching officers trained in responding to sexualized violence to conduct preliminary investigations into sexual assault cases whenever possible.
The report said members of Halifax Regional Police and RCMP will be relocated next month to allow child exploitation and sexual assault teams to investigate cases involving sexual assault and illegal images together.
It also said a cyberbullying investigative unit has done more than 900 presentations to the public and police since 2013, in response to a recommendation on educating citizens and key institutions on ways to address cyberbullying.
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Parsons was 17 when she was taken off life-support in April 2013 after attempting suicide.
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Her case attracted national attention when her family alleged she had been sexually assaulted in November 2011 at the age of 15 and then bullied after a digital photo of the alleged assault was passed around her school.
The case and a number of other high-profile cyberbullying cases sparked a national debate about online harassment and changes to provincial law and the Criminal Code.
At the time of the girl’s death, police said they had looked into the allegations of sexual assault and an inappropriate photo, but concluded there weren’t enough grounds to lay charges after consulting with the prosecution service.
Segal’s review said the investigation took too long and mistakes were made, but it was reasonable for the Crown to conclude that sexual assault charges should not be laid.
Even though there was a photo of the alleged offence, there were other pieces of evidence that weakened the case, the 2015 report said.
There may have been sufficient grounds to believe a sexual assault occurred, but there was no realistic prospect for conviction, Segal concluded.
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