Overview
In late 2014, Canadian radio host Jian Ghomeshi was arrested and charged with four counts of sexual assault, and one count of overcoming resistance by choking, in relation to three complainants. On October 1, 2015, Ghomeshi pleaded not guilty to one count of choking and four counts of sexual assault. The trial began on February 1, 2016. He was acquitted of all five charges on March 24, 2016.
Early allegations
Ghomeshi was the host and co-creator of the CBC Radio One show Q. He hosted the show from 2007 to 2014, until fired by the CBC. In 2010, the producer of Q, Kathryn Borel, approached her union, the Canadian Media Guild, reporting that Ghomeshi had repeatedly sexually harassed her starting in 2007. She also reported that there was "...emotional abuse, too: gaslighting and psychological games that undermined her intelligence, security and sense of self. Sometimes that hit harder than the physical trespassing." Borel declined to start a union arbitration or formal grievance but met with the executive producer of the show informally. In 2012, journalism students at the University of Western Ontario were advised not to pursue internships at Q due to Ghomeshi's rumoured inappropriate behaviour toward young women.
In 2013, journalist Carla Ciccone published an account of her date with a Canadian radio host to XoJane titled "I Accidentally Went on a Date With a Presumed-Gay Canadian C-List Celebrity Who Creepily Proved He Isn't Gay." Ciccone refers to the personality under a pseudonym but Toronto Life identified the individual as Ghomeshi. The article claims the radio host as making unwanted physical advances. Ghomeshi did not deny going on a date with Ciccone and claimed not to have read the article, but stated that much of it was untrue from what he had heard.
Dismissal from the CBC
In the spring of 2014, Ghomeshi advised his employers at the CBC that the Toronto Star was looking into allegations by an ex-girlfriend that he had engaged in non-consensual rough sex and that he denied this accusation. The crisis management firm Navigator was hired to work for both Ghomeshi and the CBC. In early summer of 2014, reporter Jesse Brown contacted the CBC and warned that Ghomeshi's behaviour might have crossed into his work environment. On October 24, Ghomeshi announced he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the network to deal with personal matters.
Two days later, the CBC terminated Ghomeshi's employment, with a CBC spokesperson saying "information came to our attention recently that in CBC's judgment precludes us from continuing our relationship with Jian." saying his dismissal was motivated by fear of an alleged smear campaign by an ex-girlfriend that according to Ghomeshi could release private details about his sexual life. Ghomeshi also said he refused an offer by the CBC to "walk away quietly." Chris Boyce, the head of CBC Radio, denied that such an offer was made. He also filed "a union grievance alleging wrongful dismissal and defamation," and stated through his lawyer that he "does not engage in non-consensual role play or sex and any suggestion of the contrary is defamatory." Ghomeshi withdrew his lawsuit on November 25, 2014. The terms of settlement stipulated that Ghomeshi will pay the CBC $18,000 in legal costs.
By December 16, 15 women and one man had approached media outlets with abuse allegations against Ghomeshi. Actress Lucy DeCoutere was the first woman to agree to the publication of her name in conjunction with the allegations, followed by author and lawyer Reva Seth. Jim Hounslow later came forward publicly accusing Ghomeshi of sexually assaulting him while the two were students at York University in the early 1990s. On October 30, Ghomeshi was dropped by Navigator and the public relations firm, Rock-it Productions, ended their association with Ghomeshi. The CBC investigation was led by Janice Rubin, a prominent lawyer and leading authority on workplace harassment, and the results were released on April 16, 2015. As a result of his firing and the accusations made against him, Ghomeshi was named QMI Agency's newsmaker of the year.
On January 5, 2015, the CBC placed Boyce and Todd Spencer, the executive director of human resources and industrial relations for English services, on indefinite leave of absence because of the Ghomeshi scandal. The CBC announced their dismissal on April 16, 2015. Spencer sued CBC in May 2016 for wrongful dismissal, saying that he was "scapegoated" by the corporation.
Criminal proceedings
On November 26, 2014 Ghomeshi turned himself in to Toronto Police and was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking, after an investigation that began on October 31. The charges concern three separate women. He appeared in court on the same day and was released on $100,000 bail on the conditions that he surrender his passport, stay within Ontario and live with his mother. Ghomeshi appeared in court again on January 8, 2015, and was charged with three additional counts of sexual assault related to three more women. and was later put over to April 28, 2015. His lawyer, Marie Henein, stated that he would plead not guilty to all charges. On October 1, 2015, Ghomeshi pleaded not guilty to one count of choking and four counts of sexual assault.
Trial and acquittal
The trial of Ghomeshi began on February 1, 2016. The complainant, who had previously testified to having no contact with Ghomeshi after the alleged assaults, was confronted with two emails she had written to Ghomeshi more than a year afterwards, one included a picture of her in bikini; she described them as "bait" to get him to explain why he attacked her. and a photo of her "fellating" a beer bottle in October 2005. DeCoutere said that she was trying to please and placate Ghomeshi because she blamed herself for the crimes The Crown asked the judge, Justice William Horkins, "...to allow a final witness to be deemed admissible, saying she would corroborate Ms. DeCoutere's version of events" on day six. On the last day of the trial, the Crown and defence team made their closing arguments to the judge.
Crown prosecutor Michael Callaghan stated that the "...credibility of Ghomeshi's three accusers has nothing to do with the way they behaved after the alleged incidents". "Each complainant," he wrote, "demonstrated, to some degree, a willingness to ignore their oath to tell the truth on more than one occasion." Referring to a witness' excuse that she was merely trying to "navigate" the proceeding, Horkins replied "'Navigating' this sort of proceeding is really quite simple: tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
Separate charge
One additional charge of sexual assault was expected to be addressed at a separate trial in June 2016. On May 11, 2016, however, the Crown withdrew the last remaining charge, involving the alleged sexual assault against former CBC co-worker, Kathryn Borel, after Ghomeshi signed a peace bond. A peace bond does not include an admission of guilt but is premised on the complainant having a reasonable fear that the person entering the peace bond will cause personal injury to the complainant or to their intimate partner, or damage the complainant's property, or post an intimate image without consent contrary to s.162.1 of the Criminal Code. Ghomeshi also agreed to apologize to Borel and did so formally. "No workplace friendship or creative environment excuses this sort of behaviour, especially when there's a power imbalance as there was with Ms. Borel," Ghomeshi stated.
Later that day, Borel issued a formal statement to the media, insisting that Ghomeshi was guilty of sexual assault. "There are at least three documented incidents of physical touching," she said. "A trial would have maintained his lie, the lie that he was not guilty, and would have further subjected me to the very same pattern of abuse that I am currently trying to stop," Borel added. Borel was critical of the CBC for its handling of her initial complaint about Ghomeshi's behaviour. The CBC apologized to Borel publicly, on May 11, the second such apology by the Corporation, in a statement by head of public affairs Chuck Thompson.
2016
Immediately after the verdict, supporters of the women expressed their disdain for the judge's ruling. They argued he was blaming the victims for not conforming to stereotypes of how women should behave, and that this could dissuade other women from coming forward in the future. Tom Mulcair, then head of the NDP party, tweeted that he believed the alleged survivors and criticized the Canadian legal system. Other Canadian celebrities and activists voiced similar opinions. Andrew Burke, an associate professor of cultural studies at the University of Winnipeg, wrote "That was a total masterclass in misogynist, arrogant windbaggery just now from Judge Horkins." Toronto lawyer Jonathan Rosenthal, however, stated: "It's a very bad case for the victims' rights movement to be jumping up and screaming about.
It's atypical: This is a case where, bottom line, the complainants all lied." The case was also atypical in that the police solicited victims to come forward, and that some were very active with media interviews (DeCoutere conducted 19 herself) which were used against them in cross examination. The complainants were also in an environment with supporters saying victims must be believed. This perceived solidarity led to two of the complainants exchanging more than 5,000 messages before the trial. The potential for this to be seen as collusion led to the Crown abandoning an application to make "similar fact" case which tied the three complaints together. After the verdict, Marie Henein, Ghomeshi's lead attorney, responded to criticisms of her and the legal process in a televised interview.
In response to those who called her actions a betrayal of women, she said, "I respect their right to say that, I don't respect their opinion or agree with it" and "I'm not about to send myself back into the kitchen because somebody doesn't like what I do." Henein spoke highly of the Canadian Courts, arguing that people get justice but that should not be confused with getting what they want. Referring to criticism that she undermined the complainants, she pointed out that no one should be believed without question including the police, "It's never been to the benefit of the disadvantaged or the most marginalized." She had specific criticism of Tom Mulcair's comments: "When you are denigrating the legal system in which he worked ... not having read a word of transcript, and not having informed yourself of the case, that's disappointing and not something I would put much stock in."
2017 onwards 2022
In 2018, the federal government of Canada passed rape shield legislation limiting the extent to which past behaviour could be used against witnesses at sexual assault trials. The changes were the result of recommendations from a 2012 report from Senate of Canada, although they were not implemented until after Ghomeshi's trial. Following appeals about the new rules lodged in two court cases in Ontario and British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada held in 2022 that the rules were fair.