'Knees closed' rape judge puts Canadian justice in the dock

A Canadian judge who asked a woman during a sexual assault trial if she could have kept her knees closed for protection is facing a disciplinary hearing over his comments.

Robin Camp could be removed from the bench after he questioned the woman's morals, suggested her efforts to fight off the man were feeble and described her as "the accused" during a trial in Calgary in 2014.

The inquiry, which opens this week, will decide whether the provincial judge's conduct fell so far outside the bounds of acceptable judicial conduct that he must stand down.

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Camp's lawyer says his client has taken steps to remedy his behaviour. His daughter, in a letter to the court, states that her father "now speaks with a new kind of sensitivity and understanding".

But the panel has already heard that this matter is not simply about Camp's comments, it is about "the public perception of the justice system".

The Calgary Sun's Michael Platt describes Camp's attitude as "knuckle-dragging" and "misogynistic", and says the trust of a nation is at stake. In Canada, Platt points out, only a tiny six per cent of sexual assault victims actually report the crime to police.

"For a society that's spent decades trying to convince sexual assault victims that they really are just that – victims – Camp's antiquated morality and subsequent acquittal of the man [...] amounts to a judicial hand grenade," he says.