In the time it takes you to read this sentence, it’s pretty likely that a woman in Canada will be sexually assaulted and never tell police. In fact, about 460,000 women in Canada will be assaulted this year.
That figure only speaks to the number of reported sexual assaults, we know and research shows that up to 97 per cent of assaults are never reported to police. In fact, many survivors never even tell a friend of a family member. Even if a survivor reports the assault, police dismiss one in five sexual assault claims as baseless. The unfounded or baselessness of your case, often means that law enforcement simply doesn’t believe you. It can be the result of poor training, dated interviewing techniques, but it is arguably in part due to the rape culture that continues to persist. A culture that makes sexual assault and abuse normal and trivializes the experiences of survivors.
In certain scenarios, the police may not believe you, there may be judges with no criminal justice experience overseeing your case or you’ll have lawyers question your ability to recall specific events from a traumatic experience. Often this is referred to as re-victimization, where women are not believed, blamed, made to feel responsible for the assault, or subjected to callous or insensitive treatment.
However, this week, a private members bill was introduced to legislate mandatory training in sexual assault law for lawyers applying for a federally appointed judicial position. The proposed bill, Judicial Accountability through Sexual Assault Law Training Act (JUST Act) looks to require mandatory training for new judges and require the Canadian Judiciary Council to provide annual reports that detail the types of sexual assault training provided. We at YW are thrilled to see legislation that works to create a safer experience for survivors to come forward.
It’s no wonder that sexual assault survivors have lost faith in the system and lost faith in coming forward. We need to ensure our justice system, at all levels, understand the experience of survivors at every step of their journey. Last year was filled with news stories about the handling of sexual assault cases from Jian Ghomeshi, Justice Robin Camp and his questions to a survivor on why she didn’t “keep her knees together” and the more than 60 women coming forward with sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby, and we need to create a system where survivors are believed.
Believing survivors is the mission of the #IBelieveYou campaign, which works to show survivors that they are not alone and that we believe them. The campaign reported that research indicated 83 per cent of Albertans would personally start by believing a survivor. This is critical because when survivors feel safe to tell their story, they’re more likely to get help and seek justice. It makes our communities healthier and safer for everyone. YW will continue to speak up and out for and with women to ensure we all live in safe and equitable communities free from violence against women.
