High-risk offender moving back to Vancouver After #MeToo, Canada sees sharp increase in complaints

VANCOUER — Vancouver police have issued a public warning about a high-risk offender moving into the city who was at the centre of a high-profile abduction case in 2011.

Police say Randall Hopley, who is 53, still poses a risk of significant harm to the safety of young boys.

Hopley has served his entire six-year sentence for breaking into a home in Sparwood, B.C., in September 2011 and abducting a three-year-old boy only to return him four days later physically unharmed.

Vancouver police say the Correctional Service of Canada has assessed Hopley as a high risk for violent and sexual re-offending.

A federal parole board ruled last year that Hopley should finish his sentence in jail because he was still likely to harm a child, hadn’t participated in rehabilitation programing and wouldn’t take part in psychological assessments.

Police say Hopley is bound by a 10-year supervision order in an effort to manage his risks and his conditions including not being in the presence of any child under 16 and abiding by a curfew.

Hopley is described as 5-foot 9-inches tall, 150 pounds, with brown hair, hazel eyes and he often wears a beard.

MONTREAL — The number of sexual assault complaints filed with police and classified as founded increased sharply in Canada after the #MeToo movement went viral in October 2017.

The increase was most pronounced in Quebec, a study published today by Statistics Canada says.

Researchers compared two periods — before #MeToo from Jan. 1, 2016 to Sept. 30, 2017, and after from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2017.

Quebec saw the largest increase in sexual assaults reported to police, rising 61 per cent after #MeToo. The rate jumped to 20 complaints per 100,000 population from 12.4.

Newfoundland and Labrador saw the second highest increase, rising 36 per cent, and Manitoba was next at 27 per cent. The other provinces and territories were below the national average increase of 24 per cent.

Nationally, the figures show an average of 74 sexual assaults reported to police per day after #MeToo, compared with 59 per day before.