Last week, Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) learned of a sexual assault survivor in Waterloo Region who was charged and fined for breaching the publication ban in her own sexual assault trial. She shared the trial transcript with …
Once again, A Canadian court challenges the law barring self-induced intoxication as defence for sexual assault. As sexual violence survivor advocates, we at Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) are both alarmed at the implications of this challenge, and …
Testimony in a sexual assault case – which relies on a survivor’s willingness to provide it – has the power to make an unknown and often serious incident visible. Without the victim’s story, it can remain a secret, hidden forever. …
Sexual Assault Survivors know Dr. Blasey Ford’s impossible burden Read more »
This article by OCRCC Coordinator, Nicole Pietsch, appeared in The Globe & Mail. A cursory look at your social-media news feed in the past several weeks may seem to suggest the growing list of celebrities and other high-profile men being …
Before #MeToo, victims lost everything Read more »
This article by OCRCC Coordinator, Nicole Pietsch, appeared in The Globe & Mail. Popular understandings of sexual assault reflect the shattering impact it can have on the lives of victims. They also reflect the public’s trust in the criminal justice …
Jailing a sex assault victim: This is not what justice should look like Read more »
Press release: Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) stands in support of a survivor of sexual assualt and her claim against the London Police Services for investigating her sexual assault and then dismissing her allegation as “unfounded”. The central …
Press release: In 2014, when allegations of violence against women were first brought against Jian Ghomeshi, many responded with disbelief: he “sounded plausible and open,” Globe and Mail’s Margaret Wente admitted in her 2014 column on Ghomeshi; and as one …
OCRCC responds to the Ghomeshi verdict Read more »
This week saw two witnesses testify in the Jian Ghomeshi trial. Both witnesses are women who shared their descriptions of being romanced – and then suddenly, allegedly slapped, choked or otherwise assaulted − by the former radio host. The locus …
Don’t dismiss Ghomeshi’s accusers over their after-the-fact behaviour Read more »