TORONTO - Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is promising a series of initiatives to combat sexual assault and harassment and encourage more victims to come forward.
Wynne says Ontario's sex education curriculum will be updated to get at some of the root causes of gender inequality and to develop an understanding of healthy relationships and consent.
She also says the rape shield law is too often ignored by defence lawyers, who see a woman's sexual history or the way she was dressed as "fair game."
The premier says the government will work with the Law Society of Upper Canada and with law schools to make sure the rape shield law, which contains strict guidelines on when an alleged victim's sexual past can be used at trial, is being respected as it should be.
Wynne says the attorney general will also look at alternatives to the criminal justice system to allow more people to bring complaints forward, although she did not provide any details.
In addition, all Liberal MPPs will have to take sexual assault and harassment training, and Wynne promises cabinet will develop an "action plan" to deal with the issue by next March 18, International Women's Day.
