On January 16, 2019 the Supreme Court of Canada engaged in debate about whether or not a witness should have to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. While those may not be precisely the words used in real courtrooms, the purpose of a witness taking an oath remains fairly clear.

A trial is meant to ferret out the truth through vigorous cross-examination. That relies on a witness being able to testify both openly and honestly.

The case being discussed, R v Goldfinch, was a sexual assault trial in which the accused had an acquittal overturned in Alberta and his lawyers appealed that decision. The question of law is whether or not the judge should have allowed the jury to hear evidence of “prior sexual activity.”

Diana Davison’s full article at The Post Millennial

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