I don’t want more half-hearted pity, I want change.
Jessica Gaertner
Advocate, Consent Educator, Victim’s Support, Researcher
For the last several years, Jessica has been quietly advocating with and for survivors, helping them navigate the complexities of the legal system. Her own experiences led her to pursue law later in life, with the goal of making big, explosive changes to the criminal legal system, only to find that the system was built with the perpetrator’s rights in mind around every corner. She became acutely aware of the barriers and social and legal stigma as she undertook extensive research projects in both criminal and civil sexualized violence complaints. Jessica’s major research areas have focused on defamation laws in the #MeToo Era, and the incompatibility and imbalance of a victim-survivor’s rights to freedom of expression in society and the judicial processes and, more recently, in sexual misconduct, abuse and maltreatment in sport and the safe sport environment. With a victim-survivor centric approach, she has dedicated her advocacy focus on questioning these systems that perpetuate the silencing of those who are impacted by abuse, sexualized and gender-based violence and intimate partner violence, while championing the voices of those who must be heard.
As a victim-survivor as a child and teen, both with strong ties to sport, Jessica has had a unique experience in engaging the criminal and civil justice systems on two continents. She is a true believer in engaging consent-education, and volunteers her time to host consent talks to groups of youths, particularly in junior hockey, to better understand their own autonomy, boundaries, intervention and how to foster a consent culture in every aspect of life.
Jessica has been actively involved in affecting change for victim-survivors and is committed to a life-long engagement in the advocacy space. Recently, she joined a team of advocates in petitioning the Canadian government to make significant changes to publication ban laws, particularly Section 486.4 of the Canadian Criminal Code which prohibits victim-complainants from publicly sharing their experience. Bill S-12 is expected to pass in the Fall of 2023. The work does not stop there; to Jessica, there are a number of significant changes to legislation surrounding sexual offences that she will champion and support in the coming years.
In June 2023, Jessica testified before Canadian Parliament’s Heritage Committee for the Standing Committee on Safe Sport on the practices of Hockey Canada’s Independent Third-Party complaints process and the harms it causes. She has been engaged in research of the sport environment complaints mechanisms and recommendations for improvement, which continue to be her areas of focus. Jessica is unwavering in her call for sustainable, systematic change that is victim-survivor centred and trauma informed through her research and advocacy projects.
Jessica came to Canada as a teenager and is privileged to have called Vancouver Island home for the last two decades. She is an active listener and observer by nature; one who prefers to study how people, organizations and systems operate. An introvert with a big personality, Jessica finds her healing in the mountains and trails of Vancouver Island or on an early morning walk by the ocean in total silence with her thoughts – it helps to remind her that healing happens in the simplest of moments. She lives with her husband and their two small (but very loud) dogs.
Jessica is certified in Trauma Informed Practice & Care and holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) Degree from the University of Essex.
Speaking
Canadian Heritage Committee – (Parl) Safe Sport Ottawa, Canada 2023
Coming soon.
Get in touch
Jessica’s services are currently available to youth and adult athletic teams for consent education sessions and to athletes of all ages in need of victim support services and advocacy during complaints processes.
Gaertner Consulting 