‘NO LONGER A VICTIM’
Coping after sex assault
Amid a series of high-profile sexual assault allegations in Quebec, Marie-Claude Plourde decided to speak out Thursday, using her experience to explain how important it is for victims to seek support.
“If I didn’t have the support and help I had, I don’t know what I would have done,” Plourde said during a news conference hosted by victim support groups in Montreal.
Plourde said she was sexually assaulted in the middle of the night seven years ago. She called 911 immediately. Police never found the perpetrator. But she said the support she received after helped her get through the experience.
While with police in the hours following the assault, she said, she couldn’t drink water, eat food, chew gum or wash. In an act of kindness she has never forgotten, the officers who accompanied her did the same. Later, support groups helped her navigate how to report the assault and cope with it happening.
“It’s not by staying silent that we can get by, but by using the support that’s available,” Plourde said. “Because of all that help, today I can say I’m no longer a victim.”
The Montreal police force — which established a sexual assault hotline last week — and various support groups across Quebec say they’ve experienced an increase in phone calls from victims following high-profile allegations that have come to light in recent weeks, including against Gilbert Rozon, the founding president of the Just for Laughs festival, and prominent television host Éric Salvail.
As of Thursday, the SPVM said it received more than 320 calls. At the news conference, CAVAC Montreal, a group that lends support to crime victims, said it has received roughly 50 more calls than usual per day since last week.
“It’s important to remind everyone that when the dust falls, and people go back to their day-to-day lives, victims and their loved ones continue to live through all kinds of emotions,” said Marie-Christine Michaud, a spokesperson for the
network of CAVACs across the province. “They need to know we’re there for them.”
A similar increase was felt at the Montreal Sexual Assault Centre. Since the news stories were published, the centre has received 115 phone calls from people contacting the centre for the first time, director Debbie Trent said.
“These are people who have lived through sexual assault some time ago, but the experience of hearing these stories has resurfaced difficult memories,” Trent said. “They call us because they want to talk to someone. Because they want to publicly denounce what happened.”