In a statement on Wednesday, Kelowna mayor Colin Basran, seen here, had not acknowledged the impact of the situation on the community or expressed any specific concern about that.The Canadian Press
The mayor of the Okanagan city of Kelowna has apologized for his initial comments responding to the finding that almost 40 per cent of sexual-assault complaints made to the local RCMP are dismissed as unfounded, a rate three times higher than the national average.
“The number of local sex-assault complaints deemed to be unfounded is deeply concerning and I know the local detachment is taking this matter seriously,” Colin Basran said in a statement on Friday that struck a sharply different tone from earlier in the week.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Basran had not acknowledged the impact of the situation on the community or expressed any specific concern about that.
Kelowna RCMP vow to investigate why 37 per cent of sex-assault complaints are deemed unfounded
That statement said he was pleased that the RCMP’s Sexual Assault Review Team was taking a further look at files deemed unfounded, a coding term that means the investigating officer did not believe a crime had occurred.
He also said he had complete confidence that the RCMP was taking the matter seriously.
The Kelowna detachment has said the B.C. RCMP has been unable to explain the high unfounded numbers and requested the RCMP’s national sexual-assault review team to examine the 2018 and 2019 unfounded sexual-assault files.
The team was formed to review RCMP sexual-assault files after the 2017 publication of The Globe and Mail’s award-winning “Unfounded” investigative series, which found sexual-assault complaints twice as likely to be dismissed as unfounded as complaints in other assault cases.
Statistics Canada has reported the rate of sexual assaults deemed unfounded by the RCMP in Kelowna was 37 per cent in 2018. The agency said in July that, nationally, 11 per cent of sexual-assault cases reported to police were classified as unfounded in 2018, down from 14 per cent in 2017.
The Kelowna Mounties said that in 2018, they received 82 reports of sexual assault, and deemed 30 cases unfounded after investigations were completed.
A spokesman for Mr. Basran said the mayor was unavailable for an interview on Friday to elaborate on his statement, which says the high numbers were deeply concerning to the city of about 132,000 in the Southern Interior.
“While the RCMP operates independently of the City of Kelowna, it is the city’s responsibility to ensure matters of concern to our citizens are being addressed," he said, adding he supports the Mounties’ actions and will await their conclusions before further comment.
Michelle Novakowski, executive director of the Central Okanagan Elizabeth Fry Society, which advocates for women in the criminal justice system, said she was disappointed with Mr. Basran’s first statement because it read like he was not concerned about sexual-assault survivors in the community.
She said he is a caring person with good intentions, who misspoke in his initial comments. She said she has faith that the RCMP mean well despite questions about the unfounded numbers.
“I don’t want people to think the RCMP don’t care about sexual-assault survivors. That’s not true. I think there are many members that do care,” she said.
RCMP spokeswoman Corporal Meghan Foster said it’s unclear how long the review will take. “Every case is different. One case may take an hour and one case may take three days,” she said in an interview.
She said members of the review team will not actually visit Kelowna, but access electronic files from Ottawa. Cpl. Foster said changes to procedures at the RCMP detachment will await the completion of the review.