Sexual assault review ordered

Complaints listed as unfounded to be investigated

The Quebec government announced on Friday that it will ask all police forces in the province to conduct a thorough review of sexual assault complaints classified as unfounded.

The decision was made following an investigative series published by the Globe and Mail this month that revealed 19 per cent of sexual assault complaints made to police in Canada are classified as “unfounded” with no criminal charges being filed.

The decisions are made by police investigators and the complaints are not presented to prosecutors.

The newspaper found the percentage disproportionately high when compared to other crimes such as assault.

According to the Globe and Mail, the rates vary significantly between police forces across Canada with some, like the Toronto police, having only classified seven per cent of such complaints as unfounded over the five-year period used for the series — between 2009 and 2014.

By comparison, the Montreal police classified 18 per cent of sexual assault complaints as unfounded over the same time period.

The SQ classified 21 per cent of complaints as unfounded during the time frame while the Ontario Provincial Police categorized 34 per cent of the complaints they received that way.

“This important (series) by the Globe and Mail raises serious questions for all police forces in Canada,” Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux said at Quebec’s National Assembly on Friday.

The minister announced that his government “will trigger a thematic inspection of all police services on the same question.”

The SQ has already announced it would review all complaints classified as unfounded in recent years. The RCMP and Ontario Provincial Police made similar announcements after the series was published this month.

“It will verify if its procedures were duly respected and, like all other police forces, it will have to verify if its work was done properly,” the minister said.