News
& Press
'GOOD GUYS' SPEAK OUT AGAINST VIOLENCE: KATZ (The Record)
April 21, 2008
KITCHENER - Think you're a good guy just because you've never abused your wife or girlfriend? Jackson Katz, an American anti-sexist activist, says that's not good enough. Last night he told his standing room only crowd that men have to stop waiting until someone they care about is hurt before they speak out on violence against women...... (more)
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ENDING ABUSE (Cambridge Times)
December 13 , 2007
KITCHENER - In a bold move, the Kitchener-Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Centre is launching a program to end the vicious cycle of violence against women. Beginning this January, the free program entitled Men's Anti-Rape Coalition or MARC, will offer 14 hours of training to men who want to help change young males' attitudes towards women. ... (more)
REMEMBERING WOMEN LOST IN MONTREAL TRAGEDY (Cambridge Times)
December 11, 2007
CAMBRIDGE - A heavy silence fell as 14 candles flickered in the dimly lit room as a packed crowd gathered Thursday to remember the women lost in the Montreal Massacre 18 years ago. The stillness was only broken by the sound of each victim's name being read aloud, the names of those killed by an Ecole Polytechnique student who shouted anti-feminist rants before opening fire on a class of female engineering students on Dec. 6, 1989.... (more)
WOMEN STILL FEAR FOR SAFETY (The Record)
September 28, 2007
WATERLOO - With election candidates looking on, several hundred women took over a lane of King Street last night as they marched to protest violence against women .... (Page One) (Page Two)
SERIAL ABUSER JAILED AGAIN: 'NEXT TIME IT COULD BE MURDER,' ONE VICTIM SAYS AFTER SENTENCING (The Record)
May 30, 2007
KITCHENER - A Kitchener man who has been convicted five times of assaulting a partner or former partner since 1989 was sent to jail again yesterday. This time, Stephen Vankat-wijk's sentence was 14 months and three years probation. His former girlfriend, Melissa Lorentz, who was assaulted and bullied over a five-hour period by him, said the sentence is not enough. "What will it take for the courts to realize he is a long-term offender?'' she said after the sentencing outside the courtroom. "Next time it could be murder." ... (more)
MOST WOMEN STAY SILENT ABOUT RAPE, JANE DOE SAYS (The Record)
May 2, 2007
KITCHENER - In the 20 years since a masked man broke into her Toronto apartment, tied and raped her at knifepoint, society's treatment of sexual assault against women has gotten worse, not better, says Jane Doe....(more)
HOW SAFE IS THIS DRINK? (The Record)
March 17, 2007
WATERLOO REGION - Not very...just obeying the law puts women at risk of having unattended drinks spiked with date rape drugs by sexual predators. A 'go-everywhere' liquor licence can make bars safer...(more)
FEARS COMPLICATE SOLUTION TO WORKPLACE HARASSMENT (The Record)
June 2, 2006
WATERLOO REGION -Companies can be doing a lot more to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
That was the message for local business people yesterday at a workshop put on by the Kitchener-Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Centre.
The event was partly prompted by the March conviction of a Cambridge man for sexually assaulting three female co-workers at the factory where they worked, said organizer Sara Casselman. He was sentenced to a year of house arrest...(more)
WOMEN URGED TO TAKE ON 'HEROS'
THAT SHAPE MEN (The Record)
May 9, 2006
WATERLOO REGION -Judy
Rebick still remembers the shouting.
It was about 25 years ago, and the longtime feminist activist and journalist
was living in an apartment in Toronto. A couple in another unit were fighting,
and it soon became apparent the man was beating the woman... (more)
SEX-ASSAULT LENIENCY (The Record)
March 9, 2006
WATERLOO REGION –The Kitchener-Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Centre was concerned reading the article (Record, March 7, Man Suffered Too, Judge Says--shown below) outlining Justice Epstein's explanation of the sentencing of Lino Martins for a series of sexual assaults on co-workers.
Epstein's reported rationalizations demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the issue of sexual violence against women. Perpetuating the myth that true sexual assault is about a stranger attacking in an alleyway, Epstein agreed that Martins was not a threat to the community, in that his attacks were on people he knew, as opposed to predatory sexual assaults on strangers. In fact, victims of sexual offences are known to the offender in 80 per cent of cases, Statistics Canada reported in 2002.
Assaults by acquaintances and family members make up the bulk of sexual assaults in our community and are just as damaging; our tolerance and excuses for these types of offences needto end. Epstein's description of Martins as a man dedicated to his family, and a community volunteer, who "suffered too" throughout this process, further reminds us that the system has been identifying too highly with sexual offenders for far too long.
In recognition that sexual harassment in the workplace is a pressing issue for businesses in Waterloo Region, the Kitchener-Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Centre is offering comprehensive sexual harassment awareness and prevention training.
Sara Casselman
Kitchener-Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Centre
MAN SUFFERED TOO, JUDGE SAYS: 12 months house arrest for series of sex assaults on co-workers (The Record)
March 7 , 2006
CAMBRIDGE –A 44-year-old Cambridge man was sentenced yesterday to a year of house arrest for sexually assaulting three women at his workplace.
Lino Martins was found guilty earlier of six counts of sexual assault on his co-workers from 2002 to 2004.
Justice Michael Epstein said that during Martins' 12-month conditional sentence, he will be allowed to leave home to work, to attend medical or dental appointments or to go to church.
For the last six months, he'll have a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. The Crown had asked for jail time.
But explaining the sentence, Epstein said Martins' actions were mostly at the "low end of sexual assault." As well, the assaults had significant consequences for Martins' family, said the judge, who found the accused, too, had suffered.
Martins' victims were angry the judge wasn't tougher.
"We lost our jobs,'' said one woman, who cannot be named. "He can go home to his family and still go to his job.''
Court heard that two of Martins' victims left work because they felt humiliated. The third left because one assault aggravated an old injury.
"I thought he would get six months (in jail),'' said the other woman. The third victim was not in court.
Court heard that while at work, Martins would come up behind the women and thrust his pelvis into their buttocks. His penis was erect, which, on several occasions, he made sure the women knew.
Epstein said the two most serious incidents happened at one victim's home while her husband was away. Martins kissed the woman, held her against the door as he was leaving her house, and told her he wanted sex. He then masturbated.
When Martins returned to the woman's house a second time, the woman thought he was there to apologize, Epstein told the court in his summary of evidence.
Instead Martins straddled the woman on the kitchen floor after she fell. He kissed her and fondled her breasts, asking her for sexual favours. The woman screamed and told him to leave.
The factory is not being named to protect the identities of the women, who are in their 30s and 40s.
Martins' employment at the factory was terminated after he was found guilty in January. He is now working elsewhere, court heard.
None of the women knew what was happening to the others until one of the women complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
As a result of the complaint, the company offered training about sexual harassment.
In his judgment, Epstein said Martins showed violence during the assault at one victim's house, but the violence "lacked an element of brutality.''
He also noted that Martins stopped when the woman reacted, and that there was no further touching.
Martins cannot be blamed for the culture at the workplace but his actions showed a "callous disregard for their feelings," Epstein said.
He described Martins as a man dedicated to his family and generous with the community, who volunteers his time with amateur soccer and the Cambridge Portuguese Club.
Epstein, who found Martins lacked remorse, said he was troubled he had not sought counselling.
But Epstein said he agreed with Martins' lawyer, Bob Miller, that Martins was not a threat to the community and that the offences. His offences were against people he knew, and were not predatory sexual assaults on strangers.
Crown prosecutor Jane Young asked the judge for a jail term of nine to 12 months. In victim impact statements Young read to the court, each woman wrote about losing her self-confidence and about the embarrassment and lasting hurt caused by Martins.
After the sentencing, family and friends of Martins' hugged each other outside. Some women cried. (LIZ MONTEIRO)
VIOLENT CRIME SOARS; WATERLOO REGIONAL POLICE STATS FOR 2004 SHOW BIG JUMP OVER 2003
May 26, 2005
WATERLOO REGION – The crime rate in Waterloo Region rose by 5.9 per cent last year, with violent crimes rising by 15 per cent, regional police statistics show. (more)
MEN SNEAKING DATE-RAPE DRUGS INTO GIRLS' DRINKS
May 2, 2005
WATERLOO REGION – Teenage girls as young as 14 are seeking counselling for sexual assault after being given date-rape drugs, a local crisis centre says... (more)
ONTARIO GOVERNMENT HELPS WOMEN WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED VIOLENCE
February 25, 2005
TORONTO — The Ontario government is providing the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic with $300,000 in annual funding so that it can continue to provide specialized legal services ...(more)