Alberta advocates react to supreme court ruling around condoms and consent

It’s something advocates for survivors of sexual violence have been saying for years now clarified under Canadian law: the use of a condom can be a condition of sexual consent.

The 5-4 Supreme Court of Canada decision Friday ruled that if a complainant’s partner ignores the request that a condom is used, the intercourse is therefore non-consensual and the complainant’s autonomy and sexual agency have been violated.

“You would think that would be common sense, but unfortunately it is not,” says sexual assault survivor and advocate Kirsten Raworth.

The practice is sometimes called ‘stealthing’ — where sex is agreed to with a condom, but is removed without the other party’s consent. Beyond the threat of sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy, this type of action is reported to bring psychological harm and loss of trust.

While advocates applaud the news, many sexual assault centres have already been supporting survivors of these types of acts. They hope the biggest change will be how survivors of this sexual violence interact with the justice system.

“They can now point to case law,” says Raworth, “and say this is against the law and I want to press charges.”

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Samantha Pearson, director of the University of Alberta Sexual Assault Centre, says discussions around consent and contraceptives have been happening for years. She’s hopeful the legal reality will help more people understand the gravity of such actions.

“In the last four or five years, we’ve noticed a distinct increase in people disclosing this type of harm.”

Pearson says it’s hard to pinpoint a reason for this increase, saying it could be linked to the increased awareness around consent and the support available on campus. She says they previously had to manage the expectations of survivors who wished to report things like stealthing to law enforcement.

“It is incredibly important that this recent decision and other decisions around sexual violence are included in mandatory training so that beat cops know,” stresses Raworth.

Currently in Alberta, the Police Act does not mandate specific sexual violence training for all police officers. Something Raworth hopes changes in the Police Act, which is currently under review.

— With files from the Canadian Press