Several Yukon-based non-profit organizations that advocate on behalf of women who have been sexually assaulted in the Yukon are looking for answers after RCMP National Headquarters pulled the plug on a three-year project.

The Yukon Advocate Case Review (YACR), led by Yukon Status of Women Council (YSWC), was reviewing sexual assault files in the territory labled by RCMP as “unfounded” and “not cleared by charge”.

The YACR is based on the Canadian Framework for a Collaborative Response to Sexual Violence , which was endorsed by Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Daniel Therrien. “In the context of the review of sexual violence case pursuant to the Framework, I am of the view that the Privacy Act would not be a barrier to the disclosure of personal information needed to conduct the proposed reviews,” Therrien writes in a letter to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police dated November 7, 2019.

Despite cooperation with Yukon’s RCMP M Division, RCMP Headquarters (HQ) ordered YSWC in March 2020, to stop the project, citing privacy violations. RCMP HQ is promoting its own internal review model, Sexual Assault Investigation Review Committees (SAIRC), which women’s organizations across the country have criticized as lacking accountability and transparency due to its internal nature.

In particular, women’s groups are concerned that the SAIRC process involves RCMP choosing which files get reviewed, who reviews the files, how files are reviewed, what recommendations come out of each review, and what can be shared about how recommendations are implemented.

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls makes numerous calls in its final report for police oversight to take place by civilian bodies and for police to partner with front-line organizations (such as YSWC).

The Yukon-based review marks the first time the Framework had been applied to a division of the RCMP, though it had been used to review provincial and city police forces in Canada.

YSWC’s Access to Information Request to view the RCMP’s Privacy Impact Assessment which RCMP HQ cites as the reason for terminating the Yukon-based case review, has not been addressed, despite having been filed in May of 2020.

Quotes:

“ Transparency and privacy considerations are two ends of a spectrum. The RCMP’s SAIRC initiative is leaning a bit too far into the privacy end of that spectrum at the expense of transparency. If the RCMP want to initiate meaningful, systemic change and repair public confidence in their institution and practices, they cannot be the ones who are in charge of these kinds of review processes.”

Aja Mason, Executive Director, Yukon Status of Women Council

"We want to work with the RCMP to help them fix the problem of flawed, inadequate investigations into cases of sexual assault. It's unfortunate that RCMP HQ felt it had to shut down an approved research protocol led by Yukon women's groups into unfounded sexual violence cases, a project supported by the Yukon RCMP and funded by the Government of Canada, when we as Indigenous women want to help them do better. The RCMP excuse that women's groups' research participants would violate the privacy of sexual assault victims is absurd. It's time for the Government of Canada to step in and direct the RCMP to continue its participation in the Yukon Advocate Case Review 3-year project under the terms of the original agreement. Our sisters and brothers who are raped and assaulted but denied justice deserve no less."

Ann Maje Raider, Executive Director, Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society

“While the SAIRC initiative is a step in the right direction, efforts to enhance RCMP transparency cannot be fully realized unless such review processes are conducted and implemented by independent external entities . That’s what the Yukon Advocate Case Review project was.”

Jennifer Gibbs, Executive Director, Dawson Women’s Shelter

More Information

• The rate of sexualized assault in Yukon is 3.5 times higher than Canada's national average.

• The number of sexualized assaults deemed by the RCMP as "unfounded" is 25 per cent in Yukon compared to the national average of 19 per cent.

• The 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls makes the following Calls to Justice with regards to policing in Canada:

  • There must be civilian oversight bodies with jurisdiction to audit Indigenous police services and to investigate claims of police misconduct, including incidents of rape and other sexual assaults, within those services. These oversight bodies must report publically at least annually.

  • We call upon federal and provincial governments to establish robust and well-funded Indigenous civilian police oversight bodies (or branches within established reputable civilian oversight bodies within a jurisdiction) in all jurisdictions, which must include representation of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people , inclusive of diverse Indigenous cultural backgrounds, with the power to:

    • Observe and oversee investigations in relation to police negligence or misconduct, including but not limited to rape and other sexual offences.

    • Observe and oversee investigations of cases involving Indigenous Peoples.

    • Publicly report on police progress in addressing findings and recommendations at least annually.

  • We call upon all police services to partner with front-line organizations that work in service delivery, safety, and harm reduction for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to expand and strengthen police services delivery.

• Gender Equality Network Canada’s 2020 report Discussion Document for a Pan-Canadian Strategy to Advance Gender Equality recommends:

  • The governments of Canada and the provinces and territories develop a structure for civilian oversight of all structures of policing , including municipal, provincial and territorial and Indigenous police and RCMP, to monitor and make transparent police response to GBV survivors, especially Indigenous women and girls, drawing on the expertise of the autonomous women’s movement.

  • Under the existing leadership of the front-line, grassroots violence against women and feminist legal advocates who have implemented Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review (VACR), the governments of Canada and the provinces and territories cooperate to launch a nation-wide review of police investigations, and that a wide sampling of police files be reviewed by external, grassroots front-line violence against women organizations and feminist legal experts in gender-based violence, in accordance with the Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review model (Philadelphia Model) being piloted in Ottawa.

Contact

Aja Mason
Executive Director
Yukon Status of Women Council
aja.mason@yswc.ca
867-334-4634

Ann Maje Raider
Executive Director
Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society
majeraider@yahoo.ca
867-334-8265

Jennifer Gibbs
Executive Director
Dawson Women’s Shelter
shelterdirector@northwestel.net
867-993-5086

Project Background:

Following the 2017 release of the RCMP, The Way Forward: The RCMP’s Sexual Assault Review and Victim Support Action Plan , The Yukon Status of Women Council (YSWC) was awarded $274,000 in March of 2018 from the Department of Women and Gender Equality to work with the Yukon’s RCMP to respond to Yukon’s high rates of sexual violence and case attrition.

Statistics in Canada indicate that sexualized violence is vastly underreported with only 3 to 5% of survivors reporting to police. Survivors across Canada do not access their right to justice and offenders are not held accountable for the crimes they have committed. In addition, in the Yukon, the number of sexual assault cases deemed not based in fact (“unfounded”) or not cleared by charge is significantly higher than the national average. These factors, coupled with the 2010 acquittal of two Watson Lake constables of sexual assault and the in-custody death of an Indigenous man , resulted in RCMP signing multiple agreements to collaborate with Yukon women's organizations.

The three year Yukon Advocate Case Review (YACR) project was built on the recommendations from the 2010 review of Yukon's Police Force and the agreements established in the 2013 Together for Justice and 2015 Together for Safety protocols as well as the Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review (VACR) model which is currently used by several municipal police forces across Canada and is endorsed by both the Canadian Chiefs of Police and the Federal Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

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