CIPPIC and eQuality Project file Motion to Intervene in SCC Voyeurism Case, R v Downes

| May 02, 2022

CIPPIC, working with the eQuality Project, has filed a motion in the Supreme Court of Canada to intervene in the appeal of R. v. Downes, 2022 BCCA 8, a British Columbia Court of Appeal decision, where a coach was charged under the voyeurism provisions of the Criminal Code for surreptitiously taking photographs of pre-teens in their underwear in a sports facility's change room. The majority of the Court Appeal overturned the conviction, ruling that the photographs were not taken in "places in which a person could reasonably be expected to be nude".

CIPPIC will be arguing that the voyeurism provisions ought to be interpreted by framing them within the broader context of the privacy and equality rights of voyeurism targets, including women, children, and members of other equality-seeking communities.

CIPPIC is working with Professor Jane Bailey, a Faculty member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. The intervention will tap into the excellent work done by Professor Bailey and Professor Valerie Steeves in their SSHRC-funded eQuality Project, and their previous eGirls Project.  CIPPIC is very pleased to report that our friend and uOttawa Ph.D. candidate Suzie Dunn of Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law is also working with us on the file.