One in seven sexual assault cases in 2017 deemed ‘unfounded’: StatCan
OTTAWA — The number of sexual assaults reported to police is on the rise, while the ones deemed “unfounded” by officers is on the decline in the wake of the #MeToo movement, according to a new statistical look at crime in Canada.
Both the overall crime rate and an index tracking severe crimes nudged up by one and two per cent, respectively, last year, marking the third straight year of increases after a decade of declines, Statistics Canada said Monday.
Despite the increase, Canada’s crime rate last year was still 24 per cent below where it was a decade earlier.
Feeding into that increase is more reporting of sexual assault cases to police, and investigators themselves taking a second look at historical cases in the wake of greater public scrutiny of sexual harassment and assault.