Free legal options available for sexual violence survivors
Grant to fund service offering advice regardless of time passed since assault
EDMONTON Six years ago, Elizabeth Halpin was on Whyte Avenue one evening when she became separated from her friends and ended up alone with an acquaintance.
He took Halpin back to his apartment and sexually assaulted her several times. She wasn’t able to escape until the morning. During the attack, she was choked and beaten.
Halpin shared her story Friday at Edmonton’s Elizabeth Fry Society where Alberta’s Status of Women Minister Stephanie McLean announced a $700,000 grant to the organization to design, deliver and evaluate a three-year pilot program, which will launch in November later this year and give sexual violence survivors free, confidential legal advice, regardless of how much time has passed since they were attacked.
Halpin said she reported the assault to the police. After an 18-month investigation, they were not able to press charges.
“I was devastated when I found this out and it took me another year to recover from that news,” she said.
The new service announced Friday will help people lay out their options, she said.
The justice system is hard to navigate and the results aren’t always great, but one’s options and what each course of action would look like is important to give clarity and closure, she said.
Halpin — who wore a silver chain around her neck with a locket designed like an empty cage and a flying bird next to it — said she was lucky she had a strong support system of friends and family, who most importantly believed her, and helped her through her trying times.
McLean echoed Halpin’s sentiment about the need for a robust support system.
“The decision to report sexual violence is deeply personal and can be extremely difficult,” she said.
While the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have empowered many to break their silence and share their stories of sexual harassment and assault, others are still afraid to report their experiences because they fear they will be re-traumatized.
“They fear they won’t be believed, fear they will be dismissed,” McLean said. “This fear has a lot to do with why sexual violence is the most under-reported crime in Canada.”
As many as 95 per cent of victims do not report their assaults to the police. According to Statistics Canada, 2014 saw 83,000 reported sexual assaults in Alberta.
And with every case that goes unreported, McLean said there’s a perpetrator not being held accountable.
Toni Sinclair, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Edmonton, said the organization might not know how many people this program will impact down the road, but she does know that it is badly needed.
“We want sexual assault survivors to know they have power, they have rights and that we stand with them,” she said. “We stand with you, we believe you and we are here to help.”