Advocates suggest third-party involvement
For The Chronicle Herald.
Nova Scotia should allow anonymous reporting of sexual assault through community-based organizations, says an advocate.
Known as third-party reporting, the practice allows survivors to report sexual assaults to designated staff at community-based organizations, and if the survivor gives consent, the staff submits the report to the police without revealing the survivor’s identity. In Canada, third-party reporting is only available in the Yukon, Manitoba and British Columbia, which was the first to implement the program in 2008.
“One interesting thing that came out of the program in B.C., which was kind of unexpected, is it actually led to an increase in survivors making formal reports to the police, because they felt supported and there was a service available to support them,” said Nora MacIntosh, legal coordinator at the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre in Halifax.
Having the option to approach staff at places like Avalon “relieves a massive barrier” for women who need support after being sexually assaulted, and who may not be sure they want to take their report to the police, MacIntosh said. Third-party reporting is especially needed for women dealing with domestic violence, who may fear retaliation by their assailant and therefore want to remain anonymous for their own safety, but ultimately want information about their assailant to go to the police.
“Removing those barriers by implementing a third-party reporting program, anonymous or not, is a way to support survivors that doesn’t exist in many places,” MacIntosh said. “On a broader scale, this community-based reporting is about legal advocacy and about legal support,” which is “seriously lacking” for survivors of sexualized violence across the country.
“It’s also about ensuring that survivors feel supported and feel heard, even if they don’t want to report to the police,” MacIntosh said.
In Canada, there are more than 600,000 instances of sexual violence in a given year, yet sexual assault is the least likely crime to be reported to police, according to Statistics Canada. In 2014, only five per cent of these violent crimes were actually reported to police, which points to the need for alternative strategies such as third-party reporting programs.
There are several reasons why survivors may not want to report to the police, MacIntosh said, such as the re-traumatization of sharing the story of what happened to them when they may not feel ready to do so, as well as feelings of shame, humiliation and embarrassment. These concerns are heightened when considered in combination with the underlying fear that police might not believe them.
“That’s a huge barrier to reporting, the fear of not being believed, and that fear is legitimate when you look at the statistics,” MacIntosh said. For instance, a recent investigation by the Globe and Mail found that from 2010-2014, 19 per cent of reported sexual assaults in Canada were deemed “unfounded,” meaning that police did not feel like they had enough information to lay a charge. On top of this, only 20 per cent of reported sexual assaults resulted in police laying charges.
From 2010-2014, a quarter of sexual assaults reported to police were deemed unfounded in Nova Scotia. In Halifax, the rate was lower than the national average at 13 per cent, but in rural areas of the province, the rates increased significantly. For instance, the rate of unfounded cases in New Glasgow was 34 per cent, in Yarmouth it was 46 per cent, and in Truro the rate was 55 per cent – a number MacIntosh called “alarming.”
Halifax has a “serious lack of services for people who have experienced sexual assault,” she said, referencing the “massive waitlist” for counseling services at Avalon. Outside the city, the lack of access to services for sexual assault survivors is a huge concern.
“I think a lot of the barriers that women and folks who have experienced sexual assault face in urban areas are kind of amplified because of the nature of small towns,” MacIntosh said. “There’s a lot more at risk in rural areas in terms of judgment and stigma, and just a lot more fear in reporting to police, who maybe are your next door neighbours.”
Once survivors report to the police and engage with the criminal legal system, they lose all control over how that process is handled, MacIntosh said. Third-party reporting, on the other hand, puts agency back into the hands of the survivor.
“Within the current structure of the criminal legal system, it is really the only way for the survivor to engage with that system while still retaining control over their experience,” she said.
The stressful step of having to report to the police first is removed, but the option to have the report be passed on to police by the third-party is still there, MacIntosh said. That lets survivors inform police about the assailant so investigators can begin to “build a solid case [against the perpetrator] with information that would otherwise not be reported at all.”
If police decide to lay charges, they will contact the third-party organization that gave them the initial report, asking to communicate this to the survivor in question, MacIntosh said. That can help build positive and trusting relationships between survivors and the police, she said.
If the case goes to trial, the survivor will be called to the witness stand. But if they do not want to testify and there are no witnesses, the case will not proceed to trial due to insufficient evidence, according to the Public Prosecution Service’s Survivor’s Guide to Sexual Assault Prosecution.
Halifax Regional Police “value any information that may help us to solve a crime,” but “whether we will accept anonymous or third-party reports of sexual assaults depends upon the individual circumstances of the situation,” Const. John MacLeod, who speaks for the force, said in an email.
“While we currently don’t have a formal arrangement for anonymous third-party reporting through other organizations, we would be open to exploring this option further with our community partners,” MacLeod said.
Police respect the choice of survivors of sexual assault who choose not to report the crime to them, as well as those who choose to come forward at a later date, he said.
“As part of our victim-centred, trauma-informed approach to sexualized violence, we work closely with victims to ensure they’re willing to proceed with a police investigation and then work with them to fully investigate the case,” MacLeod said.
Whether or not survivors choose to make an official police report, the victims’ services unit is available “to discuss options and provide information and support services,” he said.
“Our ultimate goal is for victims to know that they will not be judged, and will be treated with compassion, dignity and respect throughout the entire investigative process.”
In November of 2017, Mounties said they wanted to expand third-party reporting programs across the country.
“The RCMP is committed to continue working with partners across the country to explore the option of Third Party Reporting in interested communities,” Tania Vaughan, who speaks for the force, said in an email.
Vaughan did not respond to inquiries regarding specific communities of interest, or provide a timeline for when the third-party reporting programs would be put in place.
MacIntosh said that there is a “lack of communication” between the RCMP and community-based organizations in the development of a nationwide program, and to her knowledge, there has not been any communication between the Mounties and staff at the Avalon Centre for Sexual Assault in Halifax.
“If a national program were to be developed, or a program in Nova Scotia, community engagement is I think one of the number one concerns that should be brought to the attention of whoever is eventually developing this,” she said.