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| - Canada's justice minister on Tuesday reintroduced a failed bill requiring judges to take a refresher course on sexual assault laws, as well as sensitivity training and schooling to dispel rape myths. Justice Minister David Lametti, Women Minister Maryam Monsef and former Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who had introduced the bill in the last parliament before leaving politics, made the announcement in Ottawa. "This bill is designed to strengthen training requirements for judges and provide them with important insight into the myths and stereotypes that too often surround sexual assault," Lametti told reporters. "This will help enhance the confidence of survivors of sexual assault and the Canadian public more broadly in our justice system," he said. Ambrose noted, after sitting in on rape trials, a "striking discrepancy between the law as it appeared on paper and the law as it was applied in the courtroom." She also cited statistics showing that one in three Canadian women are likely to experience sexual violence, but only one in 10 typically report assaults to police, "and even less ever make it to trial." Although the original bill enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the Commons, it languished for two years in the Senate over concerns that it could create a bias in favour of victims. Ambrose had introduced it as a private member's bill in 2017 after public outrage erupted -- as the #MeToo movement was developing -- over a judge asking a rape complainant at a trial, "Why couldn't you just keep your knees together?" Federal judge Robin Camp, who was later forced to resign over his scandalous comments, also told the 19-year-old woman that "sex and pain sometimes go together." Ambrose had blamed "old boys" in the Senate for blocking its passage and effectively letting it die on the parliamentary order paper before last October's general election. She publicly scolded senators last year for their "shameful" procedural tricks and letting down sexual assault survivors. All political parties, however, vowed during the election to bring back and pass the bill. Its return to the fore comes as Harvey Weinstein's trial continues in New York. Dozens of women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct since claims against him ignited the #MeToo movement in 2017. Only the cases of former actress Jessica Mann, who alleged rape, and former production assistant Mimi Haleyi, who accused him of forcibly performing oral sex on her, have led to criminal charges in the New York court. amc/bgs
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