Justice Minister John Hogan has withdrawn his comments and apologized in the House of Assembly after drawing criticism for stating that it’s “impossible” for lawyers to retraumatize survivors of sexual assault.

That drew the ire of survivors, advocacy groups and even retired Crown lawyer Mike Murray who called Hogan ‘unfit’ to be justice minister.

Hogan made the comments in the House of Assembly in early March, and offered a public apology earlier this month amid calls for his resignation.

Hogan rose in the House of Assembly to withdraw his comments.

“I publicly said some of those statements were incorrect, and I’d like to publicly apologize again for those incorrect statements.”

That apology didn’t go far enough according to the opposition parties. Tory justice critic Helen Conway-Ottenheimer asked Hogan whether he thinks an apology is enough given the calls for his resignation.

“No, a statement by me is not going to be enough to address the issue of intimate partner violence, and sexual assault violence, and the retraumatization of individuals that go through the justice system” Hogan told the House. He admits, “lots of work needs to be done” and he expressed the hope that “I can be some small part of that.” He outlined the groups and individuals he’s met with since last month to “move this issue forward” including PANSOW, The Journey Project, End Sexual Violence NL and the Public Legal Information Association.