Sexual assault is never ok.
What is sexual assault?
Sexual assault is any sexual contact or behaviour without your consent, and it is a crime. Sexual assault includes unwanted or forced kissing, sexual touching, vaginal penetration, anal penetration, and/or oral-genital contact.
Sexual assault is never the fault of the person who experiences it. The person who committed the sexual assault is responsible for this act of violence.
What is consent?
Consent is a voluntary, mutual, active, and ongoing agreement to engage in the sexual activity in question. Consent is not the absence of no and it is not silence.
The legal age of consent in Canada is 16 years of age; follow this link to learn more about the law and consent between minors.
Children under the age of 12 cannot consent to sexual activity.
Consent is not possible when one person is in a position of authority or power, or the sexual activity is exploitative.
Watch the video below, Consent is as Easy as Tea, to learn more about consent.
Help is available
What to do if you have been sexually assaulted?
Call 911 if you are in immediate danger, require medical attention, or want to report the assault to the police.
Medical help can be accessed at a hospital or health centre whether you report to the police or not. You can also request a Sexual Assault Examination Kit at the hospital or health centre to have forensic evidence collected. This forensic examination is voluntary, requires your consent, and you can stop it at any time. In the NWT, the sexual assault examination kit is provided to and stored by the RCMP; it is not stored anonymously like in some other jurisdictions in Canada.
Support services can also be accessed whether you report or not and are available through Victim Services, the NWT Community Counsellor services, the Kids Help Phone at 1.800.668.6868 or text CONNECT to 686868, and/or the NWT Helpline at 1.800.661.0844.
Additional support services include:
Canadian Mental Health Crisis Line at 1.888.353.2273
Canada Suicide Prevention Services (24/7) at 1.833.456.4566 or text support: 45645 (2pm - 10pm MT daily)
Follow this link for information about sexual assault, consent, emergency services, sexual assault examination kits, and more.
Reporting options: you can chose to report a sexual assault to the police or to not report a sexual assault to the police. You may chose to report to the police for information purposes only. They may still proceed with an investigation and with laying of charges if there is a public safety concern for other victims.
How to support someone who discloses sexual assault to you?
The majority of people who experience sexual violence do not reach out to the formal system (police, victim services, shelters or crisis lines). Rather, they reach out to family, friends, and others, such as doctors, nurses, lawyers, an elder, or a priest. We can help by being BRAVE … see below for tips for supporting someone who discloses sexual violence to you. Feel free to print and post these tips in your space and community.
The Facts
The NWT had the highest rate of sexual assault in the country in 2019 and the second highest rate in 2020, (second to Nunavut). The rate of sexual assault in the NWT was 7.3 times the national rate in 2020 - causing so much suffering, pain, and trauma. We know that sexual violence is significantly under-reported; only 6% of sexual assaults are reported to the police.
Sexual violence is a gendered violence as the majority of people who experience sexual violence are female and the majority of the abusers are male. In the NWT, women are three times more likely than men to be sexually assaulted over their lifetime.However, male children, youth, and adults do experience sexual violence.
Those people in the NWT most likely to report experiencing sexual assault since the age of 15 are:
o 63% of 2SLGBTQ+ women
o 62% of women who experienced childhood violence
o 51% of women with a physical or mental disability
(Sources: StatsCan. (2021). Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2020, and StatsCan. (2020). Gender-based violence: Sexual and physical assault in Canada’s territories, 2018)
Additional Resources
RESPECT - SEXUAL CONSENT Fact Sheet
Sexual Assault: a help book for teens in the NWT
Please note: the content of this webpage is primarily for adult sexual assault survivors as there are mandatory reporting requirements, different sexual assault medical and forensic examination protocols, and more when a child or youth is sexually assaulted.