Sitting on the terrace of a café, AnnaLise Trudell, a gender violence prevention worker with the Anova organization, struggles to explain what is happening in her city. In July 2021, the Montreal Canadiens drafted Logan Mailloux, a local player charged with a sex crime in Sweden. Then, in September, students at Western University say they were drugged. Finally, in May 2022, what is now known as the “Hockey Canada Affair” comes to light: in 2018, a young woman was allegedly raped by junior-aged hockey players downtown.
Why London? “There is no easy answer,” says the woman from the city. Because if these files attracted national attention before falling slightly into oblivion, here, they seem to be part of a trend.
The number of sexual assaults recorded by local police has been increasing year on year since 2017. And in 2018 — the year of the Hockey Canada affair — 11.5% of Londoners aged 15 and over said they had been assaulted or sexually assaulted. In Montreal, this rate was twice as low.
Speakers like AnnaLise Trudell wonder about the roots of the problem; they are stepping up their efforts and concluding new agreements to better protect women in the city. If an increasing number of sexual assaults are reported, it is partly due to the awareness work carried out in recent years, they say. But if we want to prevent them, they advise, the progress that has been caused by the events of the last few months must continue.
The Western bubble
The territory of Western University covers 455 hectares — a campus seven times larger than that of the University of Montreal — north of the city. And according to several London residents, including Cassandra Fisher, who coordinates care for victims of sexual assault at St. Joseph’s Hospital, the university is forming its own town. Its students rarely leave campus, and the establishment has its own police service.
“The bubble is huge,” sums up over a café au lait Emily Poirier, a student representative, in an establishment affiliated with the university.
The bubble burst in September, however, when dozens of female students claimed to have been drugged and raped in a dormitory, which led to a visit by city police — not without apprehension on campus, because the perception that it’s just the misadventures of students in a state of intoxication is not uncommon, says the student representative.
On September 17, 2021, nearly 10,000 students and residents of London demonstrated together against sexual violence at Western University. “It’s disheartening that it took such an event to unite the community,” said Jennifer Dunn, director of the Center for Assaulted Women. London’s two worlds became one, accelerating the signing of formal agreements between local organizations and the post-secondary institution.
In December, St. Joseph’s Hospital signed an agreement with the University to allow nurses to meet with victims of sexual violence in its student residences. The Anova organization has created mandatory training on sexual violence that will be given to first-year students living in residences.
“Two years ago, I would have been more critical of Western,” explains AnnaLise Trudell. Since the events of last September, however, the University has invested money and set up an action plan “on a scale never seen before”, she continues. But we can’t stop there, warns the speaker. “We know, thanks to decades of studies on the subject, that a single formation cannot, on its own, bring about significant cultural and behavioral changes. We need constant reminders. »
Western University President Alan Shepard, who previously held the position at Concordia University, declined an interview. To have to On the question. In a press release, Vice-Rector Florentine Strzelczyk said that the establishment has “an important role to play in the development of responsible citizens”. “Combating sexual violence will require a collective effort,” she said.
A city crazy about hockey
AnnaLise Trudell also hopes for a change in hockey culture — a complex task in London, where the game is king.
Like Western University, hockey has a special status in the city. The local junior team, the Knights, are “revered”, says Mme Trudel. It has attracted an average of 8,360 spectators per game for three seasons, or 40% more than the second team in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in this list.
In July 2021, one of his players, Logan Mailloux, was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens even though he had committed a sex crime in Sweden, where he shared an intimate photo of a woman without her consent. On Sept. 2, two weeks before the monster protest at Western University, the Knights player was suspended indefinitely by the OHL; he was reinstated last December.
But five months after the return of Logan Mailloux, a new story came to splash the local hockey community. Last May, the TSN network revealed that a young woman was allegedly raped by junior-aged hockey players in a hotel in downtown London in the summer of 2018. The assault occurred following a a fundraising activity co-chaired by two former members of the Knights celebrating, among other things, the victory of the Canadian junior hockey team. The organizers were looking to impress Hockey Canada in order to be chosen as hosts of the championship.
Vectors of change
Things seem to be changing since the September 2021 wake-up call, however, and community stakeholders in London are hopeful that Western University will make a lasting change to its ways. “I really want the University to become more permeable [à l’aide extérieure] and that it takes advantage of the 40 years of experience in prevention that can be found in the community,” explains AnnaLise Trudell.
The speaker also hopes that the Knights increase their efforts to raise awareness of sexual violence among their hockey players. An hour or two of training a year is not enough, she says.
One of the most intense periods of the year begins these days in London: thousands of students are back in town. First-year students will be required to complete mandatory sexual violence training, and the University will initiate a clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of the program. Speaker Cassandra Fisher, for her part, is eager to see what effects these measures will have: “It will take time, but we hope to see a change,” she said.