WEBVTT - The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E21: Morrell Breaks the Ban 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:02.679 Hey, listener, I just wanted to give you a heads 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:07.000 up that this episode includes discussions of assault and sexual assault, 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.039 though we don't go into any specific details. 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:11.560 But there are. 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.200 Nice things in it too, like a group of strangers 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.920 who came together to reclaim their stories. If this episode 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.960 is too triggering for you, though, just skip it. There 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.400 are plenty more episodes for you to dive into on 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.080 the feed look After Yourselves. 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.960 I remember laying in my bed and staring out the 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:33.920 window and I was watching a man wash the windows 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.519 of a high rise across the street. 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.640 It's April twenty twenty one and morel Andrews, who's a 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.520 civil servant in Ottawa, Canada, has just hit an all 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.280 time low, and so she's doing that thing that movie 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.760 characters do where they lay back and watch the world 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.000 just move on without them. 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.560 And I remember laying in bed feeling miserable and like 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.800 trapped and so desperately. 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:08.920 Sad Morrel is a survivor of assault, and it took 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.959 her a really long time, like years, to get the 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.440 language and understanding that what happened to her was wrong 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.680 and that it's criminal. But after her attacker was convicted 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.759 in twenty twenty one. She wanted to share her story, 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:24.759 but there was a problem. 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.160 I found that there was a publication ban and restriction 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:32.679 on my ability to speak, and that I could also 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:38.319 be prosecuted for just attributing my own experience, essentially gagged 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:39.880 against my own will. 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.640 She the victim, was not able to talk about her story, 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.240 not to the press, not on Twitter. She couldn't even 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.840 text her friends about it. She couldn't even email her therapist. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.520 If she spoke about it, she could, according to Canadian law, 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:01.160 face a criminal conviction and a fine, which is how 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:06.040 Morel finds herself here alone in her experience, staring out 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:06.640 the window. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.720 But even in that moment, I told myself, remember what 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.720 this feels like, because one day you will be able 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:20.160 to do something with this feeling. 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:28.760 Oh she does something about it, all right. I'm Annison 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.720 Field and from the teams at Novel and iHeart Podcasts, 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:37.360 this is the Girlfriend's Spotlight, where we tell stories of 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:54.560 women women today. 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:56.799 Morel breaks the band. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:02:58.200 You. 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.720 When Morel Andrews was eighteen, she was assaulted by her 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:10.960 driving instructor. Seven years later, in twenty twenty, the case 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.800 finally went to court and her attacker pleaded guilty At 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.119 that point, Morrell thought the case was over, wrapped up 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:22.480 and behind her, but it was actually just the beginning. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:28.119 It turns out that the Crown attorney showed up and 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.160 asked the judge to put a publication ban on my identity, 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:37.840 essentially meaning that I, Marale Andrews, should never be allowed 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.920 to speak of what happened or the criminal case for 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:46.920 which he plaed guilty, and I should be permanently silenced, 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.680 and even once I die, no one should ever be 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.840 allowed to say in the same sentence, Marale Andrews was 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.520 assaulted by Ziya Shaw when she was his student in 0:03:58.600 --> 0:03:59.320 driving school. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.000 Okay, So there's this law in Canada. It's part of 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.760 the Canadian Criminal Code, and it's called a publication ban. 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.840 You'll also find versions of it in Australia and other places. 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.160 But what it says is that a victim of a 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:17.120 sexual offense is granted anonymity, that no one is allowed 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.040 to publicly name the victim in the media or any 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.320 other place. And that makes sense, right, It seems like 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.320 a good thing. But here's the kicker. The ban applies 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:32.320 to everyone, including the victim themselves, which makes it illegal 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.320 for them to publicly share their own names or stories, 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.400 even if they wanted to. In twenty twenty one, a 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:43.640 woman in Ontario was actually convicted of breaching her own 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.320 publication ban. She had emailed a transcript of a court 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.320 ruling to her family and friends, and for that she 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.719 was ordered to pay a two thousand dollar fine. This 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.640 fine wasn't for exposing someone else's identity, but for speaking 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.440 about her own experience. 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:01.839 I had no idea. 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.240 About this law before I spoke to Morrel, and nor 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.000 did she until she came across it. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:06.839 In her own case. 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:09.120 It's not a mandatory ban. 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.600 It's just a standard procedure that crown attorneys would go through. 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.240 On the first appearance in court, they would ask for 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.919 the publication ban as a standard practice to protect the 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:25.839 identity of the victim. It originally came to be Canadian 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:30.240 Criminal Code section four eight six point four back in 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.120 the eighties, and at that time, you know, society, culture 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:40.440 was different. Parliament's original intention was to provide a protection 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:45.599 for women, for victims who were having to face the 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:51.080 reality that if they went and reported their crimes and 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.559 those crimes ended up in a trial, that that's public 0:05:55.640 --> 0:06:00.920 information and that their identities could be public in the news, 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:05.000 and I think we have a better appreciation today that 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.640 people should have the ability to choose how they deal 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:13.920 with their cases, how they pursue healing, and for some people, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:18.799 healing might be a little more public and have a name. 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:20.040 Attached to it. 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:24.920 Okay, So it's one of those kind of accidental laws 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.839 that ends up actually holding victims back. 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:30.840 Exactly. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.200 So, if you want like a technical summary of what 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.120 the law intended, it was to say that anyone is 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:43.640 prevented from publishing, broadcasting transmitting any information that could identify 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:49.000 the victim in the case. And it was permanent forever. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.720 Even when a victim dies, that publication ban still remained 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:53.240 in place. 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.320 I mean, I can't imagine how frustrating it must have 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.479 been to have a policy that's meant to protect you, 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.279 but it sounds like in this case is really being 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:03.680 used to protect the offender. 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:05.279 That's what it felt like. 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.680 I felt like the only person being protected was the offender, 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:14.720 Ziah Shah and his driving school, and that I was 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.360 actively being harmed by this provision of the law that 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.120 was exactly, like you say, intended to protect me. 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:26.120 The irony of this law was showing its face something 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.200 that was meant to protect victims and encourage reporting of 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.440 crimes was being twisted to silent survivors. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.320 It was just never something that I wanted. I didn't 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.120 feel ashamed, you know. I had a commentary that I 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.920 felt was important about what it is like to go 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:43.520 through the legal. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:44.640 System as a victim. 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.320 Once I was told by the court that I was 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:54.600 not allowed to speak about my experience and just being 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:59.200 a young woman, and you know, reporting harm, the story 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.960 kind of crew legs of its own, and I felt 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:08.320 compelled to tell people about what happened, and it felt 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:13.360 important to just have my immediate friends and family witness. 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:19.280 But once I encountered the issue of the publication ban, 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.520 that's when I knew it was bigger than me, and 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.520 that there was something more that I wanted to talk about. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.000 Morrel felt she had to try and get this band lifted, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.959 but it was mid pandemic, when it was difficult to 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.120 access any legal support clinics or legal help organizations in person. 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.240 She came across dead end after dead end. 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:43.960 I was really alone. 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:48.520 It's a very lonely journey, so there were really no resources. 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:50.360 I went online. 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:54.920 I tried to find any article or guide or resource 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.080 about this, and I remember laying in my bed and 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.120 staring out the window, and I was watching a man 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:05.760 wash the windows of a high rise across the street. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.320 And I remember laying in bed feeling miserable and like 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:14.920 trapped and so desperately sad. But even in that moment, 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:19.640 I told myself, remember what this feels like, because one 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.560 day you will be able to do something with this feeling. 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.920 She asked the judge in her case, but was told 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.080 the case was closed. She even started combing through the 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.120 Criminal Code of Canada herself, trying to find any information 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.440 on how to challenge the ban, but to no avail alone. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:42.560 Again, naturally, it was pretty clear that no one wanted 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.320 to help me, that my case was over, and I 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.800 just was not a priority because people were busy. So 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.280 the last avenue that I felt was available to me 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:58.959 was the media. So one day I decided to email 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:04.439 a journalist the Toronto Star, and she agreed to tell 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:08.439 my story and I had to be anonymous. 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:10.439 I couldn't be named. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:14.640 Or photographed for the piece. But The Toronto Star published 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:19.880 an article about my struggle and how silly it was 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:24.800 that I was being essentially gagged against my own will. 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.600 Once the article hit the front pages of the Toronto Star, 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:32.360 it was impossible to ignore. The Crown attorneys who read 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:36.600 it immediately recognized Morrel's anger, even though her name wasn't mentioned. 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:39.240 They arranged for a judge to have a look at. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.120 Her ban, and as a courtesy, they let the offenders 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:43.040 attorney know too. 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:48.160 He wrote back and said that he actually opposed the 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:52.200 application and his client felt that I should not be 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:58.520 allowed to have my publication ban removed, so that required 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:02.679 us to go back to court and I essentially had 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:07.480 to beg a judge to remove my publication ban. Ultimately, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:11.400 she agreed that I should be allowed to publicly speak 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.560 about what happened to me, and my publication ban was 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:16.360 removed in May twenty twenty one. 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:17.560 Wow. 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.960 I mean that was a long battle to get to 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.480 that point. How did you feel when the ban was 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:25.760 lifted for the first time. 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:34.840 I bought a bottle of Moway champagne and me and 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:39.400 my roommate, my best friend, we popped the champagne. We 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.520 celebrated because it felt like a long journey, but it 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:43.240 was a celebration. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.280 It was a victory because I felt like. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:50.200 I had won and the system had acquiesced essentially to 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:54.480 my demand and refusal to be silenced. 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.920 Now this is where the quiet win, the lifting of 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.240 the publication ban and the popping of the champagne bottle 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:09.679 starts to build into something. Louder Morell logs onto Twitter 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:15.880 and just lets it rip. She shared everything, the shot 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.360 of discovering the publication ban, the confusion over what it 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.560 even meant, and ultimately the victory when the ban was lifted. 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.880 Listener Morel's got the mic now and she's killing it. 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.840 Immediately people were retweeting it and liking it, and I 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:37.400 had so many replies to the thread. People who I knew, 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:42.000 people who were strangers, reached out in my direct messages 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.160 and said, wait, I have a publication ban too, How 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:47.360 did you remove yours? 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:49.480 Can I talk to you? 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.120 Like There were hundreds, hundreds of messages and it felt 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:58.520 like again reaffirmation that this was bigger than me. 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.480 It was extreme, powerful and very very moving to read. 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:09.280 Every single message. The day that I had my publication 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.440 ban removed, the Toronto Star wrote a follow up story. 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.280 I could finally be named, my photograph could appear on 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.520 the front page of the newspaper, and one of the 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:20.000 things they. 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:21.880 Asked me, was what comes next? 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.520 And right away I knew that the answer was, this 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.120 section of the Criminal Code needs to be changed, and 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:30.680 I'm going to do something about it. 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.760 After the break Morell does something about it. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:59.400 I've gotcha, I've got you, I've got you. Sack. 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:10.079 Taking on the entire Criminal Code by yourself is no 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.440 small feet. And Morrell had already been through a lot 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.760 with her own case. The emotional told the chaos she 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:22.480 was completely burnt out, understandably, so she decided to take 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.200 a year out. She moved to Vancouver, on the west 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.240 coast of Canada and stayed in cozy log cabins with 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.960 her friends in those beautiful British Columbia forests. She hiked 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:36.040 the mountains and enjoyed her favorite comfort food of edamrmoe 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:37.680 beans at sushi restaurants. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.320 And then one day I woke up and I said, 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.880 all right, I feel ready, And so I sat down 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:52.000 and I wrote a long email to every single parliamentarian 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:53.080 in Canada. 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.760 We have three hundred and thirty eight members of Parliament 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:57.480 right now, and. 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:01.880 I explained to them what had happened to me, how 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:06.720 the law needed to change, and I gave them recommendations 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:11.600 of what they should do, and I waited. I wasn't 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:16.080 sure if anyone would respond, and then I got an 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:21.360 email from one Conservative member of Parliament named Karen Vecchio, 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:28.560 and she said, Hi, would you come and testify and 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.600 talk about all your experiences having a publication ban and 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:33.920 trying to have it removed? 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:35.400 And I said yes. 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:38.720 This wasn't just Morrel's fight. 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.680 There were so many women all across Canada who'd come 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:45.440 head to head with publication bands of their own. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.240 And I reached out to all the women who had 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:54.120 messaged me on Twitter and I said, listen, do you 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:56.320 want to work together? 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.760 I think we can change the law. 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:05.480 And these amazing women from all across Canada said yes, 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:10.880 from Nova Scotia to Ontario to British Columbia. Like many 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.200 of them responded and just said let me know what 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:17.520 you need, let's frickin do it. And that was how 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.120 the journey to actually change the law started. And I 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:25.080 get really emotional because these women I hold in such 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.280 high regard, and the fact that they would respond to 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:34.000 this crazy request for help from a stranger who they 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.360 never met and who maybe they had only contacted once 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:41.240 or twice online, but that they were willing to do 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.720 what was possible to change the law and stop other 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.880 people from going through the same pain that they had 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:47.280 been through. 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:49.840 It just it makes me emotional and I will be. 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.720 Grateful for them forever because it meant that I didn't 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.600 have to do it alone and that lonely journey that 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:58.880 I talked about when you have a publication ban, when 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:00.400 you're navigating the legal system. 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:04.879 This wasn't going to be that. It was going to 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:06.920 be a bunch of us working together. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.080 Yeah. And I mean, we know on this show, perhaps 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:17.280 more than any the power of when a woman puts 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.560 out an experience that they've previously felt like they have 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.000 to station them about and they put it out into 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:28.239 the world, and how amazing it can be for other 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.320 women to receive that exactly. 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.960 So Kelly was one of the people from the very 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.520 start who put her hand up and said, hell, yeah, 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:39.800 let me know what you need, I'm going to do it. 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:45.800 And she actually flew out to Ottawa that first October 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.320 in twenty twenty two to be with me when I 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:54.359 testified in front of the Justice Committee, because she didn't 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.639 want me to be alone, and also because you know, 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:02.440 she wanted to be there. There's also Brandy who is 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:06.600 from Ontario, and Brandy did the same thing. So Brandy 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:11.639 drove hours and hours up to Ottawa and sat beside Kelly, 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.960 who was sat behind me in the committee, and they 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.159 just held hands and made sure that I didn't have 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:20.000 to be there alone. 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:24.800 Never met them in my life, but they both came out. 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:26.120 That's amazing. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.360 And it was a really nice day. 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.800 There was a breeze and I had printed out this 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:38.440 huge binder for myself of my five minute statement, all 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.720 of my facts. I was so prepared in case any 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.120 question came to me. I felt like I had spent 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:50.800 years preparing for this moment. My sister Brie and my 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.040 mom also came and they sat behind me, and I 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.280 just felt like with Kelly and Brandy and my mom 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.359 and my sister and like all the story worries that 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.600 people had gifted to me and shared, like. 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:04.320 I was ready. 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:06.879 So how did the testimony go? 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:11.240 Great? Like? It was amazing. I'm a public servant. 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:15.960 I come from a government background, so I had a 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:20.359 familiarity of how the system worked when it came to 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:25.600 things like committee meetings. I did cry in my statement 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.600 the part where at one point I talked about telling 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.320 myself to remember what it felt. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.200 Like to have a publication man on my name that 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:35.880 I didn't want. 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:38.840 And I talked about the promise that I made in 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.560 my victim impact statement where I said, you know, to 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:46.240 other people who have not been able to report, or 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:50.960 who have not been believed, or who face too many 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:55.920 barriers in the system to be taken seriously, I will 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.320 promise that I will do what I can to fix it. 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:00.760 And that part oh made me cry. 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:05.640 And every single member of Parliament on that committee was supportive. 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:11.959 Morel was no longer alone. 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.199 She had her mum and her sister sitting behind her, 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.359 but also Kelly and Brandy and the support of so 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.119 many other women who had her back. They were her squad, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.240 coming together to fight this injustice and with their support, 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:31.520 she finally got the Canadian Parliament to pay attention. After 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:35.159 the break, one woman's fight against the system becomes a 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:36.240 national movement. 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:50.240 Glad you have glat you, Glad you have glad you. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.800 Morell's personal testimony in Parliament had got the Canadian government 0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:59.000 to review publication bands, but to make a case for 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.520 actually changing this law, she and the other women joining 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.080 her campaign had to prove that they had public support. 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:10.000 Morrel and Kelly and Brandy and so many other women 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.480 united under the banner My Voice, My Choice, and each 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.320 one brought their own unique skills to the team. One 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:21.159 handled the website, another took care of media outreach, and 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.960 someone else ran their social media channels. As for morel 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:29.480 she used her civil servant experience of navigating government bureaucracies 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.639 to steer the ship. They testified in Parliament again, started 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.960 a national petition and spoke to as many journalists as 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:37.400 they could. 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:42.159 I was already starting to work with the Minister of 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:46.600 Justice and the Attorney General of Canada and his staff 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:50.560 in particular to see what we might be able to 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:55.119 do around the law, to just continue the momentum, to 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:58.920 continue to put the issue in front of people, and 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:04.680 to see the recommendations come to life on paper in 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:08.919 a bill. And then suddenly some of the biggest publications 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:13.000 in Canada are writing stories about you and putting you 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:17.200 on the front page. And you know, politicians are reading 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:21.359 the stories like you're able to say, here's our track record, 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:25.080 like take us seriously. We had over five thousand people 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.760 sign our petition to the government to change the law. 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:31.840 This was just like such a big effort, and it 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.440 involved more than just you know, the names of people 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:38.840 who I mentioned or the people immediately in the group, 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.640 like there are many, many more, thousands of people whose 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:45.320 names we will probably never encounter, who were part of 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:48.680 the effort and sending emails and signing the petition and 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.639 getting stories out. And I will be so thankful that 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.080 people felt like it resonated with them and that they 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:57.080 wanted to help in even a small way. 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:02.679 And so that brings me on to the most important bit, 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:05.960 I guess, which is when you heard the results. 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:09.880 I was in my house when I got a call 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:15.240 from one of the staffers in the Minister of Justice's 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:19.560 office and he said to me, can you be in 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:25.119 Ottawa tomorrow for a press conference with the minister to 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:29.000 announce the bill? And I almost fell off of my 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.720 chair because I live in British Columbia. Were like a 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:36.320 five hour flight away from Ottawa, and at this point 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:40.240 it was like twelve noon. But I just dropped everything 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:44.640 and I booked a red eye flight and I had 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:49.680 again a small bottle of Moway in my fridge, and 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:52.639 I knew, I knew that the bill was coming, but 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:55.880 I didn't know when, and it was a surprise. 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.000 I didn't have a lot of time to prepare. 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:01.520 I actually, like when I hung up the phone with 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:03.960 the staffer, I ran down the street to get my 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:08.280 haircut because that was like, oh God, I'm going to 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:10.280 be I'm going to be had a press conference with 0:24:10.400 --> 0:24:13.320 two ministers like my hair, Like I just need to 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:16.600 do something, and so I ran. Yeah, I ran and 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:20.240 got my haircut. I threw like four options of clothes 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:23.399 in a suitcase. I didn't sleep because it was a 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:26.119 red eye flight, so I stayed sitting up and my 0:24:26.280 --> 0:24:29.200 hair still looked really nice from when the man in 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:30.240 the salon did it. 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:32.560 So that was the saving grease. 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:34.240 Perfect perfect. 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:39.119 In October twenty twenty three, the Canadian Criminal Code was 0:24:39.280 --> 0:24:43.760 finally updated with changes to publication bans, all thanks to 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:47.840 the relentless advocacy of Morel and the women of My Voice, 0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:52.560 My Choice. It was their determination that made this monumental 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:53.600 shift possible. 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:57.640 So what's the status of the publication ban now? 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:02.720 So the law says that the Crown attorneys have to 0:25:02.800 --> 0:25:06.000 ask a victim if they want a publication ban as 0:25:06.040 --> 0:25:08.600 soon as feasible, and they also have to inform a 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:12.240 victim when a publication ban has been put on their identity, 0:25:13.240 --> 0:25:17.760 a victim can no longer be prosecuted now for sharing 0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:22.360 their own personal information in any forum or for any purpose. 0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:26.800 So as long as you're not identifying anybody else who 0:25:27.680 --> 0:25:31.320 has a publication ban, you can share your own information 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:35.000 and you're not going to get prosecuted. That includes speaking 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:40.200