'Why did I come forward?': Ontario woman says OPP mishandled sex assault investigation

An Ontario woman who says she was sexually assaulted at a community fire hall outside London, Ont., says an investigating officer yelled at her, told her she was lying and threatened to charge her for doing so.

Now, she's sharing her story in the hopes others understand the challenges survivors face in coming forward.

"It made me lose so much confidence in policing," said Amy, whose real name CBC News is withholding to protect her identity. "It made me think: Why did I even come forward with this?"

In February of 2021, Amy was enrolled in a pre-service firefighting certification program at a community college and met with an ex-boyfriend at a regional fire hall, where he volunteered.

He had agreed to help her prepare for an upcoming test, she said.

"I was thinking everything was normal and then he ended up leading me into this lounge area at the fire hall where he said he had extra notes," said Amy. "That's where he sexually assaulted me. He held back my arms and used physical force over me."

Initially, Amy feared reporting the incident because the man had threatened her. "He said, 'You can't tell anybody. I'll ruin your career if you do.'" Amy said he also coerced her into recording a video saying he had not sexually assaulted her.

The threats kept coming over text, she said.

"It wasn't until that point that I was super scared that he was actually going to ruin my career or make me look like a bad person, that I went to the police," said Amy.

Two OPP constables in Ingersoll, Ont., took Amy's statement in October of 2021, eight months after the incident, she said. The interview went well and when Amy got a phone call to return to the detachment for further questioning, she assumed it was routine follow up.

She was wrong. 

"[The officer] sits me down and immediately says, 'I can go into why we think you're lying and the evidence we have to support that, but if you call a lawyer, I can't go into that.'"

"[The officer] also said, 'You're not being charged with lying to police at this point, but there's a chance that you could be,' and that freaked me out. I was so scared," said Amy.

Amy said the officer pointed to the video her ex-boyfriend made her record as proof she was lying.