Not enough support for victims of sexual assault in Yukon, report shows
Stigma, lack of confidentiality and lack of transportation are some of the major issues affecting victims of sexual violence in Yukon communities.
According to a new report, these problems are stopping victims from accessing support such as access to justice, crisis counselling and medical care.
The report stemmed from six weeks of engagement by a third-party consulting firm last summer, which was commissioned by the territorial government to investigate the current state of support for sexual violence victims in rural Yukon.
The resulting report was published and presented to the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
The government is going to use the report's recommendations to expand services to the communities, according to Health and Justice Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee.
"It is vital that anyone who needs these services can access them," McPhee said in a ministerial statement Wednesday. "Our goal is to remove as many barriers as possible."
Rural services will be an extension of the Yukon government's sexualized assault response team (SART), which is based in Whitehorse and launched in 2020. It offers a 24-hour support line, free legal advice, and referrals to police, doctors and counselling services.
Key issues are blocking victim support
According to the report, SART services aren't reaching people in rural communities.
Nearly 250 people were interviewed, including victims and survivors as well as service providers like police, EMS, non-profit and government employees. It was found that most respondents were unfamiliar with SART or other available resources for victims.
The report also listed a number of barriers to accessing services. They include:
Fear of repercussions and reputational damage within small communities.
A lack of confidentiality from service providers.
Racial bias and discrimination, particularly in health care.
Reluctance to engage with the justice system due to past trauma.
Lack of services, and limited transportation to larger centres with more services.
Few safe spaces and shelters for victims in the communities.
The report offers a number of potential solutions to these issues, including fostering better awareness, establishing land-based healing supports, more safe houses, better transportation, clear policies on evidence collection kits, and extensive trauma-informed training for service providers.
Not enough evidence collection kits, says Yukon NDP
Evidence collection kits aren't currently available in all communities. NDP MLA Lane Tredger says they've heard accounts of people being turned away from community health centres after being sexually assaulted, because the nurses on staff weren't trained on administering the kits.
An evidence collection kit enables nurses to take forensic evidence from someone who was assaulted, and who wants the option of seeking justice. Forensic evidence increases the likelihood that the offender will be found guilty in court.
Tredger says the lack of kits is unacceptable, and it's on the government to find interim solutions if kits can't be immediately available in every community — even if that means medevacing a victim to a larger centre where support is available.
They also pointed to the lack of transportation between communities as a pressing and pervasive issue that requires immediate attention. Transportation issues have previously been noted in reports on health care and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Tredger said this is not the first time better transportation has been recommended to the government.
"I worry that this will be another report that will gather dust along with the recommendations from many, many other reports," Tredger said.
Some work already underway
The Yukon government says it's already working to implement some of the items from the report, according to a news release issued Wednesday.
An awareness campaign for SART is planned for this year, to increase education on consent and broadcast the resources that are currently available.
The government said it's also "exploring options" for transportation improvements, including funding transition homes to pass money for travel directly to victims.
Community health centres have also been contacted regarding increasing trauma-informed responses, the government said.
