Do I have to report this to the RCMP?
If you choose to report a sexual assault to the RCMP an officer will conduct a thorough investigation. He/she will investigate the complaint promptly, thoroughly and with sensitivity. Priority will be given to your needs and you will be offered medical and psychological services. Where available, the victim will be offered the assistance of Victim Services. With your consent the officer will request assistance from the SANE Program (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) who will conduct an examination of the victim using the approved Sexual Assault Examination Kit to gather forensic evidence.
If i chose to report, what can i expect?
The officer will conduct an interview with you. RCMP officers and trained to use appropriate interviewing techniques and follow established video and audio taping procedures. The objective of the interview is to get an accurate report of what occurred from beginning to end. You can expect to be asked to recount what happened leading up to and after the sexual assault. The officer will ask you questions to help you put the event in order and to capture important details. These questions may be very difficult to answer but it helps to answer them in a detailed way; this will make your statement of the assault as complete as possible. You may choose to proceed with pressing charges after the statement is taken by the RCMP, or you can choose to keep your statement on file for now and make a decision about whether or not to press charges at a later time. One of the benefits of going forward to the police shortly after the sexual assault has occurred is that you are likely to remember the event in more detail which you may find harder to recall as time goes on. Keeping your own records if you choose not to report the assault to the RCMP it is still recommended to record your own written document about the sexual assault, if you wish to go forward to the RCMP at a later date you will already have a written statement of the event.
You should know that if the sexual assault occurred in the context of a relationship, it will be treated as a domestic violence occurrence. In this case the RCMP must pursue charges against the accused if evidence supports a charge-it’s the law.
To review sections of the Canadian Criminal Code specifically sexual assault see sections 271, 272, 273 and common assault Sections 266, 267. If you are subject to threats see Sec 264.1 of the Criminal Code.
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