Yes, I think there are very serious concerns that have been brought forward. I of course don't investigate police issues to be able to comment on specifics, but certainly some reports, like the Human Rights Watch report, have brought out some serious concerns on the part of girls and women.
For instance, in the suicide report that I did recently, I was very troubled by the fact that the girl, when she disclosed having been sexually abused, was interviewed by a fully uniformed RCMP officer in a room where they normally interrogate a suspect. Her grandparents weren't told what she was being interviewed about, and essentially the interviewer continued to question her about whether she had consented, whether she had consented. So she broke down and the whole process ended.
I don't fault the officer on the handling of it. He was fairly fresh out of Depot, serving in a rural community, not being very supportive and not necessarily having a high degree of training. There are serious issues in the delivery of police services that have to be addressed, and a lot of that comes down to how police respond to the disclosure of an incident.
I don't think it's as deep as a culture of disbelief, saying “We don't believe sexual abuse happens”. I think it's more a culture of their being overwhelmed by other things and not being sure they can address this. What concerns me more is the front-line police experience is often one of “We don't know what to do here, and we are not sure how we're going to bring this issue out because it seems to be pretty widespread”. That is a concern. I see the police frequently bringing cases to my office saying they'd like some other response because they are concerned about this but it is difficult to deal with.
I think you are right that the policing issues are there. They have to be addressed, and I think they have to be addressed through better relationships between police and girls and women. And when a girl discloses, for instance, physical and sexual abuse, there has to be safety around that child. I'm not saying you have to believe everything they say. There has to be a proper investigation and report—