Geography Shouldn’t Determine Access to Justice: New Report Reveals Deep Inequities in Forensic Evidence Collection for Sexual Assault Survivors in Canada’s Remote and Indigenous Communities

Press Release

TORONTO, Nov. 04, 2025  A groundbreaking new report from She Matters, funded by the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), reveals that a survivor’s location in Canada can dramatically affect their chances of receiving justice after sexual assault.

The study, Does Geography Impact Access to Justice? Access to Evidence Collection in Rural and Remote Communities, is based on 62 interviews with survivors and service providers from Northern Ontario, Northern British Columbia, and the Yukon. The findings paint a stark picture of how distance, systemic racism, and gaps in culturally safe healthcare continue to fail survivors.

Building on She Matters’ 2021 landmark report Silenced: Canada’s Sexual Assault Evidence Kit Accessibility Crisis, this research provides the first in-depth, survivor-centered look at the lived experience of accessing forensic evidence collection and post-assault care in rural and remote regions.

Key Findings: Geography and Discrimination Shape Access to Justice

• Geography creates real barriers to equally accessing justice. Survivors in rural and northern regions reported limited or no access to Sexual Assault Evidence Kits (SAEKs) or trained forensic examiners. Some described waiting days or having to travel hundreds of kilometres for examinations — often causing them to give up on evidence collection entirely.
• Indigenous survivors face compounded trauma. Indigenous women in all three regions described re-traumatizing encounters in healthcare and justice systems, citing racism, disbelief, and judgmental attitudes that deterred them from seeking care, or further compounded their trauma.
• Lack of culturally safe and trauma-wise care. Survivors reported that existing services rarely integrate trauma-informed approaches, Indigenous healing practices, land-based supports, or community-led care — elements they identified as critical to recovery.
• First responses matter. Participants consistently described how early interactions with healthcare workers or police shaped their healing journey and willingness to report. A single dismissive response often ended their engagement with the system entirely.
• Survivors are driving the solutions. Through the study, survivors identified practices that work — including compassionate intake, survivor choice in care pathways, specialized training in addictions and trauma-wise practice, and community-based supports.

“Survivors told us, clearly and powerfully, that geography still determines equal access to justice in this country,” said Jacqueline Villeneuve-Ahmed, Founder of She Matters. “For many in the North — especially Indigenous women — that means being denied dignified care, the opportunity to seek justice, safety and support. That is unacceptable.”

Survivor-Centred Solutions and an Urgent Call to Action

The report also offers clear, survivor-led solutions to transform Canada’s approach to sexual assault response and care. These include:

• Creating decolonized forensic suites and care environments that feel safe, and integrate Indigenous healing practices.
• Embedding culturally protective and trauma-wise training across healthcare and justice sectors.
• Establishing mobile forensic units to reach remote and northern communities.
• Supporting community- and matriarch-led approaches that centre land, ceremony, and Indigenous data sovereignty.

These recommendations directly align with the MMIWG Calls for Justice (15.4 & 15.6), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (18–24), and UNDRIP Article 24, which recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ right to equitable, culturally appropriate healthcare.

A National Responsibility

National data continues to show the scale of the problem:

• 83% of sexual assaults in Canada go unreported to police.
• In 2014, Canadians self-reported 636,000 incidents of sexual assault, with rates unchanged in over a decade.
• 60% of Indigenous women have experienced physical assault, and nearly half have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime.

These figures highlight a national crisis that She Matters’ research makes impossible to ignore: survivors in remote and Indigenous communities face the greatest barriers to care, evidence collection, and justice.

“Canada must act now to close this gap,” said Jacqueline Villeneuve-Ahmed, Founder of She Matters. “We need to invest in trauma-wise, culturally safe, and geographically equitable systems of care so that every survivor — no matter where they live — has access to justice and the support they deserve.”

New Podcast Series: Continuing the Conversation

To deepen public understanding and amplify survivor voices, She Matters has launched a four-episode podcast series exploring the findings and calls to action from the report. The series features firsthand accounts from survivors, insights from frontline workers, and discussions on how to build equitable, culturally safe pathways to justice across Canada.

Listeners can access the podcast on all major platforms or through the She Matters website for more information and resources.

About She Matters:

She Matters is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to advancing equity, justice, and survivor-centered care for all survivors of sexualized violence. Through research, advocacy, and survivor-led initiatives, She Matters works to dismantle systemic barriers and build trauma-informed, culturally safe support systems across Canada.

Download the full report:

Does Geography Impact Access to Justice? Access to Evidence Collection in Rural and Remote Communities is available for download at https://www.shematters.ca/does-geography-impact-access-to-justice.

Media Contact:
Gail McInnes, ChangeMakers
647-381-3261
gail.mcinnes@thechangemakers.com

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