• Wab Kinew, who is considered the front-runner for the leadership of Manitoba’s New Democratic Party, has repeatedly denied that he committed an assault on his girlfriend in 2003. The woman herself maintains that he threw her across the room.
• Ontario Provincial Police have announced that they will overhaul sexual assault investigation process after completing a review of unfounded cases.
“The OPP, one of the country’s largest police services, with more than 6,200 officers, will roll out the changes in the coming months, beginning with the creation of a specialized group of high-ranking officers who will personally monitor every unresolved sex assault case.
The service will also create five regional review committees inspired by an internationally lauded oversight model in Philadelphia, in which advocates who work with female victims of violence can examine case files for signs of bias and investigative missteps.”
• The UK’s Criminal Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority guidelines, despite recent revisions, allow for sexually abused children as young as 12 to be refused compensation on the grounds that they “consented.”
• UK trade union leaders reject calls to completely decriminalize the sex industry. Sue Ferns, representing the Trade Union Congress General Council, said:
“While it is certainly true that women are driven into prostitution out of desperation, drug addiction and economic necessity, it doesn’t follow that we should campaign for the decriminalisation of pimps and brothel owners who benefit from women’s poverty.”