Why some sexual assault survivors and advocates say the justice system is failing them

It’s why in March 2024, the Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime struck a special task force to assess how survivors of sexual violence are treated in the justice system, and how it impacts both reporting and outcomes.

Statistics Canada’s latest data, released in November 2024, said of the approximately 900,000 sexual assaults in a year, six per cent of the victims reported the crime to police.

Of those who did report, only about one-third of the cases resulted in charges, and fewer than half of those ended up in convictions.

Those statistics aren’t just grim — they’ve remained virtually unchanged for decades. (In 2000-01, Stats Canada reported that few sexual assault cases ended up in court, and of those that did, they had among the lowest conviction rates of all crimes against persons: 43 per cent).

The task force is expected to release their report — and recommendations to remedy the issue — on Nov. 19.

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