Sexual Assault and Disability: Saskatchewan, 1942

Abstract

Beatrice Irene Tisdale was a deaf woman who was born in Saskatchewan in 1918. In August 1942, an acquaintance drove Ms. Tisdale to a secluded area and raped her. This article discusses the sexual assault trial of Joseph Probe. The court's inability to accommodate Beatrice Tisdale's language of testimony, and legal professionals' attitude toward the “inconvenience” of the special barriers in this trial, made it impossible for the complainant to fairly and fully share her experience. The court was preoccupied with whether Ms. Tisdale had communicated non-consent in a way a hearing man could understand, and whether she adequately physically resisted the assault. No one inquired about whether Joseph Probe took proper steps to seek consent from a deaf woman, and no one raised doubts as to whether the complainant and accused could clearly communicate with each other during their acquaintanceship. The trial court and Court of Appeal grappled with the unclear language of the Criminal Code which contained an offence known as “unlawful carnal knowledge of a deaf and dumb woman”. While the Court of Appeal correctly discerned that deaf women were mentally capable of consenting, the judge failed to address the particular vulnerability of deaf women. Joseph Probe was acquitted. This is one of many trials where Canadian courts failed to ensure full and fair involvement of deaf persons in the legal process.