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Aug 09, 2022 • 7 hours ago • 3 minutes read • 8 comments A London man faces charges in separate incidents on August 2 involving a woman and a teenage girl on a path on Grenfell Drive near Constitution Park in London. Picture taken on Monday, August 8, 2022. Mike Hansen/The London Free Press
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“Systemic change at all levels” will be needed to tackle safety risks such as the two alleged sex crime incidents on a footpath in north London, the head of a women’s shelter has said.
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A woman and a teenage girl were accosted on a footpath near Adelaide Street North and Fanshawe Park Road on August 2, in separate incidents that happened within two hours of each other, police say. A 22-year-old London man has been charged with soliciting sexual contact, receiving sexual favors from a person under 18 and assault, London police said Monday.
A combination of prevention and intervention is what’s needed to drive change when it comes to sexual and gender-based violence, said Jesse Roger, executive director of Anova, an anti-violence agency and shelter.
“We didn’t get here overnight, so the trick is how do we get that balance between intervention and prevention so that five, 10, 15 years from now it’s happening less and less?” It’s a systemic change that we’re pursuing and it’s not just one person’s responsibility,” Roger said.
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The city council pledged to create a safer London for women and girls this term, even making the effort a pillar of its strategic plan. Anova also leads the UN’s Safe Cities initiative in London. This includes training watchdogs for city employees, starting with outside workers because they are often in the community and may be able to intervene.
The back-to-back reports from women who were approached on a trail earlier this month — the first was grabbed by a man on a bicycle, and just over an hour later, a teenager was approached and offered money for sexual services, according to police — suggests that London still has a lot of work to do.
London Police crime prevention officer Catherine Fountain said it was important for women and girls to trust their instincts.
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“Leave the area, even if it means turning back, or take out your phone” if you feel something is wrong, she said.
Fountain recommends that pedestrians and others on the city’s trail network keep their ears free — meaning no headphones, or at least not wearing one — to make sure they can hear what’s going on around them.
Also carry a cell phone and make sure it’s charged, she added.
“Know roughly where you are if you need to call for help, and don’t just keep your phone, but keep it accessible and not in your backpack where you have to dig it out,” Fountain said.
She uses the same tips while walking her dog on trails and paths. It’s not just for personal safety, but can help in other emergencies, such as finding someone who needs medical attention, she said.
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Roger said many prevention tips put “the victim or survivor in charge.” Prevention is needed, but so is intervention, such as early consent education programs and other long-term tactics to eradicate gender-based and sexual violence, she said.
It’s still too common for women to face any threats while out for a walk, Roger said.
“Talk to the women, talk to the queer people in your life to find out how often they’ve been propositioned, threatened, felt unsafe in their own neighborhoods,” Roger said.
“It’s always kind of in the back of your head when you’re a woman or a person who identifies as a woman when you’re walking alone or with others. There is always risk. Although we have no data on this, it is very common. What happened in north London was really scary.
mstacey@postmedia.com
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