L-r Victim Services Krista Levar and therapy Dog ‘Max’,  MLA Mike Morris, MLA Shirley Bond, SOS Society Leslie Tozer

Prince George, B.C. – Sexual Assault,   it is a crime that will impact  tens of thousands of B.C. women and children  each year,  and yet,  victims often don’t report it.

Solicitor General and Minister  for Public Safety, Mike Morris,  has detailed a  web site  aimed at  providing  assistance for those who  have been victimized,  those who want to help those who have been victimized and  those who would like more information  on how to help change behaviours.

Morris   referred to his  years in the RCMP  as  he spoke of  how difficult it can  be for victims to come forward  “I can understand it in  the context of  you have someone sit down and explain a horrific event to  a police officer that they’ve never seen or known before, it is  a traumatic event.  We need to find a  better way to make it safe for these people to come forward.”  Morris adds  “We need to ensure that those who have been victimized are supported when they speak up and to promote  dialogue that challenges the attitudes behind sexual violence.”

But  as was the case in the recent Jian Ghomeshi  trial,    alleged victims can be put through the  wringer when  they take the stand in court.   That’s something Morris says  he  is  hoping will change “I’m going to be meeting with the Federal Minister of Justice and that’s high on my list to talk to her about.  It’s been an issue  I’ve looked at for years, why the heck would anybody want to come forward and  re-victimize themselves by going to court?   I go  back to a statement made by a Supreme Court Justice about 20 years ago at a conference and he said ‘The main  event is no longer the guilt or innocence of the accused,  the main event is now the integrity of the investigation and with that goes  the  integrity of every witness’.   I don’t like what I see, so  we need to come up with a better system to make people feel safe to come forward and report the sexual assaults that take place.”

He says the need to  respond is urgent “In 2014, there were an estimated 70 thousand sexual assaults  in British Columbia” and that  young women on  post secondary campuses are particularly vulnerable to sexual assault.

Morris  says   a social media campaign  (#SaySomething) has been expanded, and is designed to get  people  to share information,  while the website   www.saysomethingbc.ca can provide support  and  tips  for  victims or family and  friends of victims.

“When secrecy is the word of the day, that’s an enormous issue for both the victims and for our community” said Prince George Valemount MLA Shirley Bond.

The Province recently released a series of ads that  encourage people to  speak up, below is a sample:

The website,  the ads,  the  social media campaign, are all  part of the Province’s focus on  prevention, a focus that includes funding for  service providers such as the  Surpassing our Survival Society  ( SOS Society) in Prince George,  and   work on  a new “Post Secondary Sexual Violence Policies Act   in the wake of reported sexual assaults  at the University of Victoria, and the University of BC.

“We all have a role to play in helping to stop violence against women in all its forms” says Morris  “And that starts with speaking up,  doing the right thing and  saying something to  help prevent victimization, and to support victims when  violence does occur.”