A Survey of Survivors of Sexual Violence From Three Canadian Cities

1. Purpose and Background

The purpose of this study was to better understand experiences of survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual assault (ASA). CSA and ASA can have devastating effects on survivors and unfortunately, in Canada in 2012, there were approximately 21,900 incidents of sexual assault reported to the police, the majority of which (98%) were Level 1 sexual assaults (Perreault 2013). Incidents of sexual assault that are reported to the police, however, only reflect a small proportion of the actual incidents that occur. Findings from the 2009 General Social Survey on Victimization (GSS) revealed that an estimated 88% of incidents of sexual assault were not reported to the police (Perreault and Brennan 2010); 67,000 Canadians reported experiencing sexual assault in the 12 months preceding the survey, with females representing 70% of survivors of sexual assault. Females also represented the majority (87%) of survivors of police-reported sexual assault (Levels 1, 2 and 3) in 2012 Footnote 1.

The current study builds from a survey of sexual assault survivors conducted in the late 1990s (Hattem 2000) which posed questions about the production and disclosure of third party records Footnote 2. With the passage of former Bill C-46, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (production of records in sexual offence proceedings), Footnote 3 survivors were specifically asked about their knowledge of and feelings around the production and disclosure of third party records. In addition to the questions about disclosure of third party records, this study also asked survivors about their confidence in the criminal justice system, how they obtain information about the justice system, and sought suggestions on how to improve understanding of the criminal justice system and how the justice system can better meet the needs of survivors of sexual violence.