Meaghan Cunningham Public Lecture

Western Law's Law and Feminism Research Group with the Gender and Law Association (GALA) and Western Women in Law present a public lecture from Meaghan Cunningham, Lead Crown Attorney in the Hockey Canada prosecution, titled "Canadian Sexual Assault Law and Complex Victim Behaviour: Using the Hockey Canada Trial to Better Understand Where The Gaps Are."

Meaghan is a graduate of the University of Ottawa Common Law Program, and since her call to the bar in 2003, she has been working as a Crown prosecutor, primarily in Ottawa. Meaghan’s trial work has focussed on the prosecution of serious cases involving vulnerable victims, including domestic violence, child abuse, sexual violence, human trafficking and homicides. Meaghan was an originating member of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Sexual Violence Advisory Group (SVAG), which is a specialized group of prosecutors working full-time on enhancing the quality of sexual violence prosecutions and improving the victim’s experience in the criminal justice system. Meaghan was the East Region Sexual Violence Crown from 2015 to 2018, and the East Region Lead for the provincial Human Trafficking Prosecution Team from 2021-2023, and is currently counsel at the Crown Law Office-Criminal and the Chair of the SVAG.

Meaghan has been a leader in developing a trauma-informed prosecution model for sexual violence cases, and has developed and delivered training to police, crowns, judges and defence lawyers across Canada and internationally on issues relating to sexual and domestic violence, human trafficking and trial advocacy. Meaghan is a course director for the Ontario Crown Attorney’s Association summer school course on Sexual Violence and a frequent invited speaker to other courses and conferences. Meaghan believes strongly in the value of mentorship, and she is the Chair of the province-wide Crown Mentorship Program. In 2018 Meaghan was the recipient of the Ontario Crown Attorney’s Association Leo McGuigan award, recognizing prosecutorial and leadership abilities, as well as a commitment to education and mentorship. Meaghan lives in Ottawa with her spouse, son and 7-year old Sheepadoodle, Pepper.