Handling of sexual assault complaints needs to change – Winnipeg Free Press

Opinion

Shannon Sumpert and Sel Burroughs

This week in London, Ont. A police chief showed remarkable honesty when he apologized to a sexual assault victim for his department's handling of a sexual assault case.

One wonders if Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smith is paying attention.

LPS head Ty Truong has apologized for the time he was accused of sexually assaulting five members of the 2018 junior hockey team. London police initially investigated the complaint in June 2018, but closed the case in 2019 without any charges. The case was reopened in 2022 after Hockey Canada settled a $3.5 million lawsuit.

Is it time for a similar report in Winnipeg? Given the treatment of victims who previously complained about Peter Nygard and the police response to this case, now may be a good time for the NDP government to conduct an internal review of sexual assault cases, particularly when they involve Indigenous women. victims. (It might just distract Winnipeg's police chief from worrying about how the media will cover civil cases against police service.)

This should include not only an examination of the police's actual prosecution rate, but also an accurate record of the Crown's criminal record, as the final decision on whether to proceed with a case is made by the Department of Justice. It's time to find out just how deeply entrenched the institutional racist and sexist myths are in Manitoba's justice system.

This is the story of a distraught woman trying to find justice. She says she was 16 years old and living in Winnipeg's north suburbs when a man cheated on her and sexually assaulted her. She didn't report it to the police because she knew they wouldn't believe her. He didn't believe in the criminal justice system. He also learned that four of his friends were raped by the same person. They were also silent.

Twenty years later, now feeling that the crime should have consequences, she told her story to the police, and the police officer believed her. The officer began an investigation and then contacted other women who had been raped but were still afraid to go public with their ordeal.

And with good reason, because when the police officer turned the evidence over to the Crown attorney, the Crown, after a long delay, decided not to press charges because he wasn't sure of his conviction. In the meantime, it was learned that the police knew about the man and that he had sexually assaulted more women, including his own children.

This man has been given immunity to continue attacking women and girls in the north because there is limited trust in the justice system. When someone dares to come forward, there seems to be limited interest on the part of the King. The Crown Prosecution Service must deal with such cases in the public interest.