"The age of consent in this case sort of came into play for both the complainant and the accused in the oddest fashion. It was used as if the child, this 12-year-old, knew the age of consent was 14 so she sort of conned these guys into being involved with her by telling them she was 14, knowing that she's got in her pocket the Criminal Code of Canada, looks it up and says, 'Oh, look at this, 14. So I'll just tell them I'm 14,'" said [Rosalind Prober], who added that if the age of consent had been 16, the case would have had an entirely different outcome.

"Using that language of calling the accused men, the 'boys' and calling the complainant 'Ms.,' totally blurs the power of balance that was going on there, totally reverses ...her status with them. They become the children and she becomes the enlightened empowered adult with that language, which is hardly the situation," said Prober.

"We're talking about a whole legal system that has never worked for Aboriginal people and it seems to work for white people," [Beverley Jacobs] said. "Maybe that's a bit of a broad statement but what I'm saying is that these [are] three white men who are getting away with it. They're getting away with something that has been done to an Aboriginal girl."

Violent crime
Assaults