Northlands, midway firm ‘victim blaming’: advocates
An Edmonton city councillor says it’s “just not acceptable” for any organization to blame a child allegedly victimized by sexual assault.
Coun. Bev Esslinger, co-leader of the city ’s violence and sexual assault prevention city council initiative, said she is concerned about the city ’s relationship with Northlands after it said in a civil suit a 13-year-old girl’s “negligence” is to blame for an alleged sexual assault on the organization’s property.
“It still blows my mind. As far as I’m concerned, adults protect children,” Esslinger said Wednesday.
Other Edmonton advocates working to end sexual violence said it shocked them to see organizations who put on K-Days argue the 13-year-old was responsible for any harm to herself.
“This is a pretty stark example of victim blaming,” said Lise Gotell, a women’s and gender studies professor at the University of Alberta.
The woman, now in her 20s, is suing Northlands, North American Midway Entertainment, and the estate of a dead man who she claims sexually assaulted her in July 2008 during K-Days, which was then called the Capital Ex.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and Northlands and North American Midway deny most of the claims.
In a statement of claim filed in August with the Court of Queen’s Bench, the woman said a midway employee working at a ticket booth invited her and a friend to meet him after work. After leaving the fair grounds to buy vodka, the man took the girls to a staff-only area on the Northlands grounds where he told a security guard he was bringing the girls to “party,” the claim says.
The woman said she became inebriated drinking vodka in a parked semi-trailer and went to lie down in the back of the semi cab. She remembers the man on top of her and removing her pants.
The claim says staff of both Northlands and the midway saw the man carry the unconscious girl outside and leave her in a ditch on Northlands property. Someone found her at around 3 a.m., partially dressed and without underwear, it said.
She was treated in hospital for alcohol poisoning, where health-care workers found evidence she was sexually assaulted, the claim said.
Police investigated the case, but there wasn’t enough evidence to lay charges, Edmonton police spokeswoman Cheryl Voordenhout said in an email Wednesday.
The alleged assailant died in 2016, court documents say.
The woman is suing for $100,000 in damages for physical and psychological trauma, income losses and treatment costs. Statements of defence filed by Northlands and North American Midway deny the attack took place, or that the woman was injured. If she was, the organizations aren’t liable, their statements say.
Northlands’ statement says any injuries or losses stem from “negligence of the plaintiff,” including failure to care for her own safety, drinking while underage or agreeing to party with an unknown man.
The North American Midway defence also points to the girl’s alleged negligence, saying she ought to have known she was putting herself in jeopardy, and she failed to ask other staff for assistance.
North American Midway declined to comment on Wednesday.
Northlands issued a statement Wednesday that said: “We believe victims of sexual assault are never to be blamed and should be treated with respect and dignity. It is Northlands’ highest priority that everyone attending our events feels safe and secure.
“When this incident was reported to us in 2008, we immediately called in the Edmonton Police Service to support the victim ... as an organization, Northlands is deeply saddened by this entire situation.”
The defence doesn’t have to lay responsibility on a 13-year-old, who cannot legally consent to sex with an adult, according to Canada’s Criminal Code.