'A weight's been lifted': New law allows jurors to share trial deliberation details with health providers

Ten years after Janika Ekdahl read out the guilty verdicts in a B.C. Supreme Court triple murder trial, the mental exhaustion of absorbing hours of graphic testimony — with no way to ask for help — still takes a toll.

Ekdahl originally was supposed to serve as a juror for one year. The trial ended up lasting 18 months.

Once it was over, Ekdahl said, she felt imprisoned in her own mind by her legally required civic duty. Suffering after the trial from a case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brought on by exposure to hideous evidence, she was prevented by law from discussing the details of her jury duty with a mental health professional.

"I struggled with leaving the house," she said. "The world just didn't seem as safe to me and there were a lot of things that I couldn't discuss with anybody."

That situation is about to change. Bill S-206, which has received royal assent, amends Section 649 of the Criminal Code to allow jurors to speak about jury proceedings with health care professionals.

For Ekdahl, it's a game-changer.

"It feels like a weight's been lifted," Ekdahl said. "It gives me back power."

Bill introduced 4 times in Parliament

Bill S-206 represents the third time Quebec Sen. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu has sponsored legislation to permit jurors to disclose trial information during therapy. Similar legislation died twice before — when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in 2020 and when he triggered the 2021 federal election.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper (St. Albert-Edmonton) originally tried to change the law back in 2018. His bill died on the order paper when the 2019 federal election was called.

"I don't understand why we ask citizens to be on juries and, after the trial, we let them down," said Boisvenu, a long-time advocate for victims of crime.

"When people will be asked to be on a jury, they know now that there will be support."

Bill S-206 takes effect in late January.

Ontario Sen. Lucie Moncion helped it become law after sharing her own experience with PTSD after serving as a juror on a 1989 first-degree murder trial.

"I would go into such a rage," said Moncion, describing how her trial-induced distress upended her life.

"After a few years, my husband said to me … 'You need help.'"

Moncion eventually studied to become a psychotherapist. She doesn't practice but said the skill has helped her better understand what others go through.

"When you come out of jury duty, you are not the same person as you went in," Moncion said. 

"It changed my life."

Mark Farrant, who developed PTSD after serving on a graphic first-degree murder trial, calls the bill's passage an important step toward encouraging more Canadians to take part in jury duty.

Farrant, founder and CEO of the Canadian Juries Commission, said the commission's research shows Canadians' support for jury duty polls well below their enthusiasm for donating blood or volunteering in the community.

He said the federal government now needs to work with the provinces and territories to develop a national standard for mental health support access.

"They do meet on other issues. This should be one of them," Farrant said. 

Farrant said he also wants Ottawa and the provinces to standardize jury pay, which varies from province to province. 

"It's a patchwork of jury pay across the country, with some provinces providing very generous jury pay [and] with other provinces [offering] well below minimum wage," Farrant said.

"Jurors should not be experiencing economic stresses and woes as part of their jury service, and many of them do."