RCMP make changes following scathing report on handling of sexual assault investigation

A rural Alberta family has received a formal apology from the RCMP in response to allegations they filed with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission.

A rural Alberta family has received a formal apology from the RCMP over allegations, since validated, they filed with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission about the mishandling of their teenage daughter’s sexual assault case.

The investigation dates back to 2018, when the girl went to a party. Global News is not identifying her because she was a minor at the time.

“I was hanging out with my friends, I was by the fire, was having a drink, everything was fun,” she said.

Then, everything went black — the 15-year-old lost her memory. The next morning she woke up and said she knew something was wrong.

“I’m in pain. It hurts to move, it hurts to walk, it hurts to do anything. And I don’t know what happened.”

Her friends filled in the void for her, telling her she’d been sexually assaulted.

“It just changes you completely as a person. I feel like I lost my spark. I lost part of me, in a way,” she explained.

“Growing up, you always get told: ‘No means no,'” she recalled. “Then I realized what had happened and what I’d been told had happened, (that it) was not OK and that it was wrong.”