Case Update #48 – Week 3 of Hearing Complete

Week 3 was productive.

On Monday, February 27, we called Dalya Israel, the Executive Director of WAVAW, to be qualified as an expert to speak specifically about what survivors need from systems and processes set up to respond to sexual misconduct. (I don’t have my notes for exactly how my lawyer phrased the area of expertise we are calling on for her, but that is the gist.) Ms. Israel has served around 5,000 clients in British Columbia since she began working with WAVAW about 20 years ago, in a number of different contexts. After about a half day of argument, Member Prince qualified her as an expert to give evidence in this case. Due to the amount of time spent in argument, we were unable to finish her direct examination on Monday.

On Tuesday, February 28, we called Dr. Laura Brown, an eminent clinical and forensic psychologist with every accomplishment and accolade her field has ever created, to speak about institutional betrayal, institutional betrayal trauma, institutional cowardice, institutional courage, and the associated traumas that occur when institutions fail to respond appropriately to sexual misconduct (again, this description is likely slightly different than how we requested her to be qualified because I don’t have my notes, but this is basically the gist). After lengthy argument, Member Prince qualified her as an expert to speak to these areas, and we finished her direct examination and cross examination. Ms. Israel was able to come back to us to continue her direct examination at the end of the day.

On Wednesday, March 1, we called Caroline Grego, a member of the Mordvinov Class, and finished her direct and cross examination by the afternoon. That same day, we called Professor Alexei Kojevnikov from the History Department and completed the vast majority of his direct examination.

After that the anticipated schedule was disrupted quite a bit. Counsel for UBC complained that our remaining witness schedule was too packed. Ultimately, and again after lengthy argument, we cancelled two witnesses at the last moment, a development about which I was extremely displeased. Luckily, Caitlin Cunningham stepped up to make sure all the hours were utilized, for which I am very grateful.

On Thursday, March 2, we called a member of the Mordvinov Class to testify. Her direct examination and cross examination were completed, and in the afternoon Caitlin Cunningham’s direct evidence took the time allotted to one of the cancelled witnesses.

On Friday, March 3, we finished up the remaining direct and all the cross examination of Ms. Israel in the morning. Then Dr. Cunningham completed nearly all of her direct examination. Finally, in the late afternoon. Dr. Kojevnikov completed his cross examination.

After three weeks of hearing, we fully completed four fact witnesses, completed two expert witnesses, nearly completed one fact witness except for a few questions and cross examination (Dr. Cunningham), and rescheduled four witnesses (one General Class member, two Mordvinov Class members, and a History Department witness).

The next dates scheduled are March 27-31. We will certainly finish Dr. Cunningham’s evidence that week but my understanding is that we are still confirming which of our witnesses are available for which days. I will continue the practice of summing up what happened at the end of the week.

Going into the semi-distant future, the June 2023 week has been cancelled for a conflict that UBC’s counsel had advised us about a long time ago. Unfortunately, there was basically no time the rest of the summer that everyone was available, so Member Prince set three weeks in September, alternating one on, one off. My notes have the exact dates but I will eventually get them on this blog.

I very much appreciate the efforts of each and every witness to assist with this case. Although it was disappointing to move so slowly through the evidence, and especially when it caused folks to be rescheduled, we did accomplish quite a lot in this first block of time.