The New Brunswick Department of Justice and Public Safety released its Sexual Crimes Review Thursday. Officials say they want to police forces across the province to be better equipped to respond to sexual violence cases.
In response to its findings, the province also announced the creation of a stakeholder group that will develop an action plan to remove barriers for those reporting sexual crimes.
New Brunswick Justice and Public Safety assistant deputy minister John Jurcina summarized the report saying the most important observation made was that there is a clear need for a “victim-centric approach.”
READ MORE: N.B. students reported over 60 incidents of sexual assault last year
“Through this report, we have identified common opportunities for improvement for police forces,” Jurcina said.
He said areas for improvement include training, investigational oversight and collaboration with advocates, service providers and experts.
In February, negative media reports highlighted that New Brunswick had the highest rate of unfounded sexual violence cases. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police then requested that all police forces across the country review how they handle sexual violence investigations.
READ MORE: Sexual assault reports on the rise in Saskatoon with possible link to #MeToo
Jurcina said Canada’s national average of unfounded complaints was 19.39 per cent, with New Brunswick’s at 32 per cent.
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“All 10 police agencies in New Brunswick committed to review their sexual crime investigations for a five-year period,”” Jurcina said.
“The Minister of Justice and Public Safety also requested that the agencies involved submit their findings to government.”
The files were submitted to the department by the RCMP and all regional and municipal police forces.
Jurcina said it was brought to light that there was a review done of 573 cases that were classified as unfounded that upon further review only 217 remained unfounded.
The report also revealed that municipal and regional police forces incorrectly applied the ‘unfounded code’ and notes there are a disproportionate amount of victims of unfounded crimes that are women and youth.
The stakeholder group consists of the New Brunswick Women’s Council, the Fredericton Sexual Assault Centre, the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, the Office of the Seniors’ Advocate, the Women’s Equality Branch, the New Brunswick Police Commission, the New Brunswick Association of Chiefs of Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police “J” Division.
New Brunswick Women’s Council executive director Beth Lyons said it’s important to highlight that the issue around unfounded rates is “not just an administrative issue. ”
“It’s not just an issue with consistency, and I think that we see that when we look into the report and see that the investigations into the unfounded rates reveal deficiencies and investigations,” Lyons said.
“At the same time, the unfounded rates are not the real issue here, the rates are just an entry point into this broader issue which is really about what we’ve been saying for years and years which is that policing and justice systems don’t meet the needs of victims and survivors of sexual assault.”
She said the Women’s Council is committed to moving forward to ensure that institutions like the RCMP, municipal policing forces and the justice system “earn and are worthy of the confidence and trust of survivors of sexual assault. ”
WATCH: Fredericton sexual assault phone line sees increase in calls, needs more volunteers
New Brunswick Police Commission
In an email statement from the executive director of the New Brunswick Police Commission Steve Roberge, he said after seeing the first draft of the Department of Justice and Public Safety’s Sexual Crimes Review report, the Commission put forward 25 questions to the Deputy Minister, seeking clarifications.
He said the commission, in its role as civilian oversight of law enforcement, also provided the department with observations for their consideration.
“Answers to these questions were received in late November after a second version of the review report was penned in October,” Roberge said. “The Commission is currently evaluating the department’s replies to our original questions and will be working with the department and its stakeholders on this project in the development of recommendations.”
“The Commission takes great comfort in witnessing Chief Fitch’s leadership in advancing a victim advocate review model for the revision of future sexual crime files in Fredericton,” Roberge said.
READ MORE: Statistics Canada report finds self-reported sexual assault rates steady over 10 years
Third Party Response
Green Party leader and Fredericton MLA David Coon said while he thinks the stakeholder group is a good idea, he said more needs to be done right now.
“I think there definitely needs to be a focus on reforming practices in Social Development because that’s part of the problem right now,” Coon said. “Social Development has to be looked at carefully and so the Minister has got some real responsibility there to look at what can be improved there and public safety does as well in terms of how the practice of the police forces to so rapidly refer issues to social development and removing theie involvement is worrisome. ”
He said it’s “chilling” to see the percentage of sexual violence crimes categorized as unfounded when it comes to children.
“That’s just terrifying,” Coon said.
Coon said as soon as the legislature resumes in January he will raise the issue in question period.
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