Sexual Violence in Ontario

Ending sexual violence will need planning, resources and increased equity. Read our take on provincial politics and policy that affect sexual violence survivors, sexual assault centres, and violence prevention in Ontario.

  • Even today, sexual violence survivors struggle to be heard

    With the start of the criminal trial of Harvey Weinstein, the pervasiveness of sexual assault is back in the public eye. We have heard people make comments that “the #MeToo Movement [...]

    Published On: January 7, 2020

  • “I have to tell rape victims to come back in 11 months”: A counsellor at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre, on the provincial funding cuts

    “The day in march 2018 when the Ontario Liberals announced their gender-based violence strategy, I cried with joy. The plan included $14.8 million in additional funding for Ontario’s rape crisis centres. [...]

    Published On: December 19, 2019

  • 30 Years Later: Remember December 6

    On December 6, 1989, a gunman killed 14 women − 13 students and one staff – at Montreal’s École Polytechnique, before killing himself.  He had studied for admission to the school, [...]

    Published On: December 6, 2019

  • Sexual abuse survivors: Province cuts crime victims fund

    In September, the Ontario Government announced supports meant to “make it easier for victims of violent crime and their families to get the help they need when and where they need [...]

    Published On: November 7, 2019

  • OCRCC: Federal Election Toolkit

    Thinking about the impacts the upcoming federal election could have on important issues, such as reproductive rights, gender-based violence, the experiences of marginalized communities, community violence and systemic inequalities? Talking to local [...]

    Published On: October 2, 2019

  • Take Back the Night: Speak out against gendered violence

    Published On: October 2, 2019

  • Gender-based violence: the importance of affordable, accessible childcare

    Canadian research shows that “there is a direct link between economic empowerment and gender-based violence. Women with domestic violence experiences have more disrupted work histories, are on lower personal incomes, have [...]

    Published On: August 21, 2019

  • Statistics Canada: Almost 19% year over year increase in Sexual Assaults in Ontario

    Last week, Statistics Canada released recent findings of Incident-based crime statistics[1] in Canada. In these statistics, we can see that the prevalence of sexual assault in Ontario rose from 7,434 police-reported [...]

    Published On: July 29, 2019

  • What Survivors are saying about Ontario Sexual Assault Centres

    Published On: July 26, 2019

  • Supporting Sexual Violence Survivors

    Published On: July 15, 2019

  • Ontario Sexual Assault Centres: What We Do

    Published On: July 2, 2019

  • Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: “pervasive, immediate and urgent”

    As women’s advocates, we know that the threat of violence continues to loom too large as a reality in the lives of Indigenous girls and women in Canada. On average, Indigenous [...]

    Published On: June 4, 2019