New LEAF and CJI Report Calls For Expanded Justice Options for Sexual Violence Survivors

TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2025 /CNW/ – The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and Community Justice Initiatives (CJI) have released Bridging Justices, a new report exploring how Ontario can enhance access to restorative and transformative justice (RJ/TJ) for survivors of sexual harm.

Bridging Justices shows strong support across the gender-based violence (GBV) sector to reform Crown policy D.4 and expand access to survivor-led, community-based responses.

The report will be officially launched today at a press conference where LEAF, CJI, and report authors will share key findings and respond to media questions.

Survivors of sexual violence deserve meaningful options for justice that prioritize repair, healing, and accountability. But right now, Ontario's Crown policy D.4 denies survivors of sexual assault the choice to divert their cases outside of the criminal process, even though this is allowed for many other offences.

Written by Drs. Mandi Gray (Trent University) and Jessica Evans (Toronto Metropolitan University), Bridging Justices finds strong support among Ontario's GBV advocates and frontline workers for expanding access to and investment in RJ/TJ programs for sexual harm, echoing wider calls from survivors. It calls on the Ontario government to:

1. Amend Crown policy D.4 to allow survivor-initiated diversion to RJ/TJ programs for sexual offences, and
2. Invest in public and specialized RJ/TJ education for survivors, lawyers, police, judges, and GBV sector workers.
3. Launch province-wide consultations on RJ/TJ implementation, focusing on cultural responsiveness and jurisdictional oversight.
4. Fund four pilot RJ/TJ sites for sexual violence that are survivor-centred, community-led, and responsive to the needs of marginalized populations.
5. Support Indigenous sovereignty and legal revitalization by investing in in community-based responses to sexual violence.

The launch of Bridging Justices comes during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), an international campaign calling for concrete action to end GBV. By releasing this report during the 16 days, LEAF and CJI join partners and advocates across Canada in calling for tangible steps to advance gender justice.

"The criminal legal system continues to fail survivors of sexual violence," says Ruth Goba, LEAF Executive Director. "It's time for Ontario to modernize its justice system and align it with what survivors, experts, and communities are calling for."

"At CJI, we are continually humbled by the courage of survivors who reach out to us for a restorative response to the harm they experienced," says Kate Crozier, Interim Executive Director of CJI. "What we hear, time and time again from survivors is that they want a process that centres their needs, moves at the pace of readiness and can result in meaningful accountability from the person who harmed them."

Press Conference Details
Date: November 27, 2025
Time: 10:00am
Location: Queen's Park Press Gallery, 111 Wellesley St W, Toronto, ON M5S 0E3
Who: Representatives from CJI, LEAF, and authors of Bridging Justices 

Members of the media are invited to attend. To RSVP, please contact [email protected]. To watch the press conference online, tune in at 10:00am on Thursday here

About Community Justice Initiatives (CJI)

CJI is a not-for-profit organization based in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. CJI facilitates restorative justice for a wide array of conflicts and harms. The Revive program specifically supports restorative processes for sexual harm. CJI is one of the few organizations in Canada that provides restorative justice facilitation for sexual harm and supports both survivors and people who have caused sexual harm.

About the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)

LEAF is a national charitable organization that works towards ensuring the law guarantees substantive equality for all women, girls, trans, and non-binary people. LEAF has played a significant role in advancing the law of sexual assault in Canada through a feminist and equality lens. LEAF has been involved in nearly every significant change to the law of sexual assault in its 40 years of existence, including intervening in almost all precedent-setting Supreme Court of Canada cases to ensure that the Court gives full protection to complainants' rights to equality, privacy, and dignity.

SOURCE Women's Legal Education and Action Fund

Media Contact:  Rosel Kim, Senior Staff Lawyer, LEAF [email protected]