B.C. government announces new programs, police standards for sexual assault

The British Columbia government is updating policing standards in response to sexual assaults to ensure more effective investigations and improved outcomes for survivors.

The province also says it's committing to providing stable annual funding to 68 sexual assault programs across B.C. while it sets new standards for police to collaborate with victims' services workers during investigations.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says survivors deserve to be treated fairly after going through trauma and shielded from further harm, and the new standards and programs will "empower" those people.

The province says the funding for the new programs kicks in this month, while new policing standards coupling investigators with victims services workers will begin next year, applying to all B.C. police officers.

Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of Battered Women's Support Services, said in an interview that the new funding is welcome but questioned whether the new standards touted by the province will have any effect on policing culture.

In a statement released after the announcement, MacDougall's organization said only six per cent of sexual assaults get reported to police "due to fear and mistrust of the criminal legal system."

"Given the widely documented, systemic issues of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and unaccountability in the culture of policing, particularly the RCMP, will these standards alone be enough?" the statement said.

MacDougall said that one of the biggest issues for sexual assault survivors is dealing with front-line patrol officers, who are essentially the "gatekeepers" who decide whether to forward something for further investigation.

She said the long-standing problem for sexual assault survivors is having their claims dismissed as being "unfounded" and not properly investigated by police.

She said the Kelowna and Prince George detachments of the RCMP have come under fire for their handling of sexual assault investigations, and her organization hears consistently from survivors that they don't believe police will adequately investigate their cases.

The RCMP began a review of its sexual assault complaints after a Globe and Mail investigation in 2017 reported police classify an average of one in five sexual assaults as unfounded, and since then, it has reopened hundreds of files and laid dozens of charges.

In Kelowna that year, the detachment received 70 reports of sexual assaults but dismissed more than 40 per cent of them as "unfounded," Statistics Canada data shows.

Farnworth says the new B.C. policing standards include a review of closed cases and will involve "supervisory oversight" of investigations to ensure officers are impartial and "trauma-informed."

Important step forward, says anti-violence worker

Anti-violence worker Laurel McBride views the inclusion of supervisory oversight in the new standard as an important step forward.

"We see in the standards that the investigating officer needs to seek approval from a supervisor about the investigative steps and that there has to be clear communication with the supervisor before concluding the file," she said in an interview with CBC. 

Often constables don't have a specialty in sexual violence, so having supervisory oversight in every case of sexual assault will help women be assured that their case is being taken seriously, McBride said. 

"I hope that this signals a shift toward institutional change, that there's a real commitment to ending sexual violence against women."

Adam Olsen, the deputy leader of the B.C. Green Party, said in a statement that while he is pleased to see stable funding, integrated regional support centres, and updated policing standards, there is still a lot more to do to support survivors of sexual assault.

"Police investigations and the legal system often further exacerbate the violence experienced by survivors rather than providing justice," he said. "Today's updated policing standards are an important step, but at an institutional level, there remains a great deal of work to be done to ensure that police services are responsive to the needs of survivors."

The B.C. government says it now kicks in $54 million a year for crime victim support services and programs, more than 470 of which deal with violence against women and sexual assault victims.