Ontario has been recognizing May as Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month for more than three decades, but some years it seems that we’re moving backward rather than forward. This is one of those years. Here are just three stories by way of illustration.
First, let me return to a story I wrote about here last September – the unfortunately low-profile sexual assault trial taking place in Kingston, Ontario. Admittedly, my interest in this case is in part because I live here, but even if I didn’t, I’d think this was an important story. At least, I would if I knew about it, which is part of the problem.
The missing story
Despite the number of charges – 98 – against the accused, Michael Haaima, and the number of survivors – 28 – this case has received almost no mainstream media attention. As of May 31, it will have been going on for a full year, with no end yet in sight.
According to the Kingstonist, the only media outlet reliably and regularly covering this case:
“Throughout the broader trial, Crown prosecutors have repeatedly advanced a portrait of Haaima as someone who manipulated emotionally vulnerable young women through escalating pressure, emotional dependency, intimidation, and emotional volatility.”
The defence takes the position that the young women were willing participants in Haaima’s sexual activities, who could have said no or walked away at any time.
The testimony of one survivor, who first stepped into the witness box in January, only to step out until May because of a lengthy adjournment to accommodate the defence lawyer’s involvement in another trial, paints a very different picture. In her testimony when the trial resumed earlier this month, she described herself as feeling that things “had to be a yes,” whether or not she wanted them to be:
This is a case that explores critical issues related to sexual violence, and the story is almost entirely unknown. That is not the way to raise awareness about sexual assault.
“Unreliable evidence”
In late April, former Kitchener neurologist Jeffrey Sloka was acquitted of all 48 charges of sexual assault involving patients he saw when he was a practising physician. Complaints about Sloka first came forward in 2017 and a police investigation began in 2018. In 2019, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario revoked Sloka’s licence after “finding he had sexually abused multiple patients.”
Sloka initially faced 76 charges, but the Crown dropped all but 48 of them. The trial began in 2021 and, because of repeated delays, was not completed until 2015. In issuing his acquittal of Sloka on all charges, Justice Craig Parry said that each patient had “provided unreliable evidence,” and that Sloka was able to establish legitimate medical reasons for everything he had done:
“I’ve concluded that on each count, the Crown has failed to prove that Dr. Sloka used medical examinations as a ruse to gain access to his female patients.”
As the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres said:
“While we acknowledge the independence of the judiciary and the foundational principles of due process, we cannot ignore the devastating impact this ruling has had on survivors in our province, particularly given the scale of the allegations, the number of complainants and the expert evidence presented during trial.
“For many survivors, this verdict has reopened wounds, reinforced fears about coming forward, and deepened existing mistrust in a criminal justice system that already sees extraordinarily low reporting and conviction rates in cases of sexual violence.”
The Coalition, and many of its member organizations, called for an appeal and, two weeks ago, the Crown took the first steps to make that happen. Let’s hope that the Court of Appeal agrees that an appeal is warranted.
It’s all about the money
The Cost of Inaction, released by YWCA British Columbia, found that gender-based violence costs that province $1.2 billion a year: $702 million in lost productivity and $307 million in the costs of law enforcement, health care and social services. While one sexual assault police investigation costs approximately $15,000, the report tells us, the amount of public money spent on prevention is a mere $1,000/victim:
“Redirecting resources toward prevention reduces reliance on costlier policing, courts, health care and social services, while decreasing human suffering and improving labour-force participation.”
Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada’s recently released report, The Economic Cost of Victims of Sexual Violence In Canada,found the total economic impact of sexual violence across the country to be $14.8 billion a year:
“ESVA Canada commissioned this economic analysis of the costs to victims of sexual violence in Canada with intention and care, recognizing that financial evidence is the vernacular of decision-making by policymakers, industry and governments. . . .We recognize that sexual violence cannot be fully captured in numbers. Sexual violence is, at its core, a deeply personal and human experience centred on the most profound violation of human rights. This report is a call to action for systemic change.”
Let’s all pay attention to that call to action so we can see some significant systemic change before Sexual Assault Awareness Month rolls around again next May.