The Canadian Judicial Council inquiry committee is holding a hearing to decide the future of a federal judge who asked a sexual assault complainant why she couldn't keep her knees together.

Justice Robin Camp made the comment when he was a provincial court judge during a trial in Calgary in 2014.

Court documents show he also questioned the woman’s morals and suggested that “”her character would make it more likely that she consented to sexual relations.”

The man accused in the case was acquitted of sexual assault.  The verdict was appealed and a new trial was ordered.

“The judge’s comments were raised in the media and the council became aware of the comments and the executive director at that point exercised his direction and his authority and opened a complaint. The matter was then referred to a review panel and in the interim, the minister of justice for Alberta, wrote to the council and requested that the matter be referred to an inquiry committee,” said Johanna Laporte, the judicial council's communications director.

During the review, Camp admitted that his comments were ‘insensitive and inappropriate’ and he indicated that he would like to continue to serve as a judge.

“The inquiry committee is here to determine whether the facts surrounding the complaint are serious enough to warrant possible removal and a recommendation for removal. So the hearings here are an opportunity to provide a sense of what the issues are in an open, transparent and fair manner,” said Laporte. “We want to ensure that when there is a complaint about a judge’s conduct, there’s a process that Canadians can have trust in that will allow for a full exploration of the issues.”

Following the hearing, the committee will take time to deliberate and write its decision. The judge will then be given a chance to comment on that decision and it will then be referred to the full judicial council.

If the full council decides Camp should be removed from the bench, the federal justice minister will make the final decision.

"I believe the judge intends to call one or two witnesses. I believe he's been working with an expert in gender sensitivity and someone else and they may be called as witnesses," said Laporte. “Judges cannot be removed from office easily and that’s because we want them to be able to continue to deliver, sometimes, unpopular decisions in an independent way. So there is the opportunity for removal but council’s main mandate is to provide a recommendation to the minister of justice and it’s for parliament to decide whether a judge should be removed.”

Advocates for sexual abuse survivors say Camp's remarks have done irreversable damage.

There’s no excuse for this type of bias and judgment and language being used in a sexual assault case in a court in this day and age you know there are a lot of opportunities for people to be educated about sexual assault and trauma and the law so there is just no excuse," said Danielle Aubry, Executive Director, Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse. "When someone is a position such as Robin Camp was on the bench there is no excuse for that kind of ignorance."

Council receives about 200 complaints per year but there have only been 11 hearings like this since it was created in 1971.

"Being a judge in Canada is a privilege it’s the highest honour within the justice system if you are not able to understand the cases coming before you without that biased and without judgment then you should not be on the bench so my belief is that Robin Camp should not be back on the bench," said Aubry.

The committee consists of three judges and two lawyers and the hearing is expected to wrap up on September 14, 2016.

(With files from The Canadian Press)