Thread by @Christie_P83

Do you know where you’d go to get a sexual assault evidence kit (SAEK aka rape kit/exam) done?

Is your answer: my closest hospital?

According to the Silenced report, released from @_shematters, 41% of Canadian hospitals do not have SAEKs on site.

In Ontario, it’s 39%…

A 🧵

https://twitter.com/Christie_P83/status/1515341337914228740

In Toronto, there are 3 hospitals where survivors are directed to go in order to have a kit done:

1️⃣Women’s College Hospital [or one of their partner locations in which a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) travels between via taxi or ride share]…

womenscollegehospital.ca/care-programs/…

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2️⃣Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids)

sickkids.ca/en/care-servic…

3️⃣Birchmount Hospital (formerly known as Scarborough Grace Hospital)

sacc.to

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For those survivors of sexual violence in the northwest quadrant of Toronto—same as survivors in cities & towns across Canada without access to SAEKs in their local hospitals—this lack of access to SAEKs in their communities is a barrier to an essential medical process.

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The rape kit backlog in the US has received national attention thanks to advocacy initiatives such as @ENDTHEBACKLOG [endthebacklog.org] yet many Canadians don’t realize SAEKs are not adequately accessible to survivors in our own country to begin with

Let’s end that now
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My advocacy & fight for SAEK accessibility begins with hospitals in the northwest quadrant of the city of Toronto—specifically with Humber River Regional Hospital—in partnership with @engage416, but will eventually expand to the province of Ontario & the country as a whole.

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We can get SAEKs, SANEs & support staff into every hospital in Canada but first we need to change the conversation. We need to stop treating sexual violence as “low priority.”

Read the Silenced Report from @_shematters here:

shematters.ca/silencedreport

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Support @LucilleCollard’s Bill 108 — Access to Sexual Assault Evidence Kits and Provision of Sexual Assault Education Act, 2022.

ola.org/en/legislative…

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I know this will be a long, arduous battle but it’s one I’ll continue to fight & advocate for until #SAEKs are equitably accessible to ALL survivors of sexual violence.

Think it can’t be done?
Watch me!

#SAEKs #rapekits #supportsurvivors #SAAM @TheJHF @NOMOREorg @ENDTHEBACKLOG