Conditional consent or fraud?

The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously declared that refusal to wear a condom during sex, or its removal, can vitiate that consent and be cause for a sexual assault trial. "This is an internationally significant decision," says Lise Gotell, women's and gender studies professor at the University of Alberta. Her paper on Hutchison was cited by both majority and minority decisions. "Apart from England and Wales where the courts have also approached this question in a similar way, you don't have another jurisdiction now where there is such clarity around this in the criminal law."

Dale Smith, National Magazine, The Canadian Bar Association - 1 August 2022

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