Appendix D:
Recommendations
 Recommendation 1
The HRP and the RCMP should revise their sexual assault and child abuse policies to be
precise, clear and consistent about the proper protocol for interviewing children and
youth. In particular, the initial information gathered by responding officers should not be
obtained from the child, where possible and appropriate. If responding officers interview
the child, they should obtain only the limited information required at that stage. The
interview should ideally not be conducted in the presence of a parent or adult known to
the child, unless the child requires this support.
Investigating officers should endeavour to interview the child alongside a DCS worker at
the earliest opportunity.
A stand-alone Child/Youth Intervention and Interview Policy should be created, clearly
setting out the protocol for police intervention in cases involving an underage victim, and
to highlight key aspects of the Child Interview Course. The term “youth” as well as “child”
should be used in the title and body of the protocol, to dispel any belief that it only applies
to young children.
Front line officers should be reminded of the protocol. Consideration should be given to
other means of providing these officers with a periodic refresher, such as circulating the
new protocol and highlighting it in general police courses.
 Recommendation 2
An integrated “sex crimes unit” should be created or there should be closer collaboration
between SAIT and ICE on investigative files that touch on both their areas of expertise. Joint
task forces should be created when appropriate. ICE and SAIT should be located in closer
physical proximity to facilitate exchanges of information and advice, and investigators
should be encouraged to work collaboratively and share information.
 Recommendation 3
More efforts should be made to make both the general public and key institutions, such as
the police and schools, aware of novel ways to address cyberbullying. The police along with
other authorities and stakeholders, such as the Department of Education and the Department
of Justice representatives from the CyberSCAN Unit, should develop a “cyberbullying”

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 protocol that would identify in which instances to use these new alternatives. The protocol
should be designed with a view to flexibility and acknowledge that various approaches can
be used simultaneously.
Given the kind of damage that cyberbullying can rapidly cause, the protocol should state
that if police investigators have the requisite grounds to prevent further instances of
cyberbullying or to seize images or electronic devices used to commit cyberbullying-type
offences, they should consider obtaining a recognizance order or seizing the images or
devices in a timely way. They should at all times consider interim remedies to promptly put
an end to the cyberbullying.
The role of police liaison officers within schools should be clarified, in particular as it
relates to their involvement in criminal investigations and their interactions with police
investigators.
 Recommendation 4
Upon being assigned to SAIT or as soon thereafter as practicable, investigators should
receive training specific to sexual assault investigations and to victim responses to
sexual violence. Consideration should be given to creating a buddy system or assigning
a mentor to officers who are new to SAIT. Investigators should also develop a tentative
overall investigative plan to be discussed with and reviewed by a superior at the outset
of the investigation. This value-added step should be integrated into the current quality
assurance system, to make it less pro forma.
Crown prosecutors who handle sexual assault cases should also receive more training
about sexual violence and responses to sexual violence, with a particular focus on traumainformed responses.
The general training received by all officers at the police college should include a course on
policing and technology, and regular updates on any new capabilities should be provided
to all officers. All Crown prosecutors should also be trained in this area.
 Recommendation 5
Police services should assess whether police-based victim services can be expanded to
cover sexual assault investigations and other crimes involving serious violence. Police
officers who may come into contact with victims of sexual violence should be made aware
of the availability of victim services to facilitate communications with complainants and
their families, and be encouraged to make appropriate referrals to and use of these services.
 Recommendation 6
Police should prioritize investigations involving young persons – both as potential targets
and/or complainants or victims – over cases involving adults. Investigations involving
persons in crisis should also be prioritized over cases that do not have a similar urgent
component.
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  Recommendation 7
SAIT should be sufficiently resourced so that investigators can complete their investigations
in a timely manner. SAIT should be a last resort for additional human resources that may be
required to assist with other matters such as homicide investigations.
 Recommendation 8
The PPS Directive on Providing Advice to Police should be amended to require that, in cases
where the Crown prosecutor opines that there are insufficient grounds to lay a charge or
that there is no realistic prospect of conviction—and unless the prosecutor has himself or
herself undertaken a thorough review of the file, the factual assumptions that underlie the
opinion should be set out for the police investigator.
The PPS Directive on the Decision to Prosecute should clarify that the “realistic prospect of
conviction” threshold involves a determination that a conviction is “more than technically or
theoretically available” and, in the event of uncertainty on that point, the Crown prosecutor
should consult with supervisors and experienced colleagues.
 Recommendation 9
The PPS’s Directive on Providing Advice to the Police should be amended to be realistic
in its application, while remaining responsive to its underlying rationales. The amended
Directive should include the following:
•  A Crown “file” should be created for every case in which advice is provided to the police.
• 
• 
• 
• 

This could be done in electronic form.
A brief endorsement or notation in the Crown file should minimally be done in every
case where advice is provided.
This documentation should be done as soon as possible after the consultation.
The advice should be more reliably and thoroughly recorded in cases involving certain
types of more serious offences and certain types of advice, such as advice relating to
the laying of charges.
Where the Crown opines that there is no realistic prospect of conviction or there are
insufficient grounds to lay a charge, the basis for this opinion should be put in writing
and forwarded to the police on request.

The PPS’s management should reinforce to Crown prosecutors the need to abide by this
Directive.
 Recommendation 10
There should be more Crown counsel available to prosecute ICE cases, and these Crown
counsel should receive increased training in this highly specialized area.

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  Recommendation 11
The police should explore the creation of a cybercrime support unit with a broad mandate
to be involved in any investigation that requires this expertise.
 Recommendation 12
The “Hybrid Hub” should continue its expansion throughout the province. It should be
viewed not only as a way of diverting potential offenders from the criminal justice system,
but in general as a way of providing assistance to youths who are in crisis.
 Recommendation 13
The Department of Justice and the Department of Education together should ascertain
whether the cyberbullying-related provisions included in the Education Act in 2013 are
sufficient to address a scenario like the one that occurred in the Parsons case. If they are
not, the language should be amended to broaden their application.
The two departments should also canvass whether principals and school staff have received
enough guidance on how to interpret and apply the new provisions.
The role of police liaison officers should be clarified both in terms of their tasks and
responsibilities and in terms of their interactions with (a) police investigators when there
is an active criminal investigation involving a student or students, and (b) police liaison
officers in other schools.
Information-sharing guidelines should be established between schools and police outside
of the SchoolsPlus program.
 Recommendation 14
The “Sexting” Offences Practice Note should make clear that, for the “personal use defence”
to apply, the person or persons depicted in the picture or recording must have consented
to the picture or recording being created.
The Practice Note should be updated to reflect the fact that extra-judicial measures for
young offenders may not always be available given the finding by at least one court in the
province that even possessing child pornography can constitute a “violent offence” pursuant
to section 2 of the YCJA, because there may be a substantial likelihood of psychological
harm: see R. v. C.N.T., 2015 NSPC 43.
The Practice Note should also be updated to account for the new federal legislation that
introduced alternative cyberbullying-type offences related to sharing intimate images
without consent. The Note should make it clear when it is appropriate to proceed with
child pornography charges as opposed to non-consensual sharing of image charges, and
where both can be said to apply.

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 Similarly, the Practice Note should reference the new civil tools created pursuant to the
Nova Scotia Cyber-safety Act and Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, and indicate
that these should be resorted to in appropriate cases.
The Practice Note’s title should be amended to make its broader content clear. In light
of the new cyberbullying-related provisions, an appropriate title might be “Cyberbullying
Offences, Child Pornography and the Distribution of Intimate Images Without Consent.” The
contents of the Note should also include a mention of some of the forms that cyberbullying
can take, such as revenge porn and cyberstalking, and indicate how those fit into the new
legal framework.
 Recommendation 15
The PPS should create a position or charge an existing position with the responsibility for
keeping the PPS’s policies, directives and practice notes up to date, based on legislation,
jurisprudence, other events or incidents, and general needs.
 Recommendation 16
Funding should be allocated to the PPS to develop a centralized case information and
management system that, at a minimum, is able to track all cases handled by the PPS
and in which the PPS intervenes. Such a system could also be used to record the advice
prosecutors give to police, in a manner that accords with Recommendation 9.
The PPS should also strive to train its ICE prosecutors as quickly as possible, and to ensure
their caseload is manageable and allows for ongoing training—given the rapidly evolving
nature of technology and the law in this area.
 Recommendation 17
In those cases where the cyberbullying conduct may be criminal in nature, the CyberSCAN
Unit and the police should agree to work together to ensure there is a prompt investigation
and a strategy to protect the alleged victim from further acts of bullying. To achieve these
goals, the CyberSCAN Unit and the police should define the parameters of their respective
work to meet these goals, determine how best to interact and identify ways to co-exist and
run parallel investigations, when necessary.

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