Although most visits abroad are trouble-free, Canadian travellers are sometimes victims of sexual assault. Sexual assault can happen to people of any age, gender, or background. It is a traumatic experience whenever and wherever it happens, but it can often be even more difficult to deal with when it happens abroad.
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To help prevent an assault, you should use any means necessary to draw attention to the situation.
If you have been sexually assaulted, contact the nearest medical and police authorities immediately.
Contact the police if you have simply been threatened with violence. Local emergency contact numbers
can be found in the Country Travel Reports. At the same time, you should also report the matter to the
nearest Canadian government office abroad and/or contact the Emergency Operations Centre in
Ottawa.
“Predatory drugs” or “date-rape drugs” are terms used to describe drugs that can be used to facilitate sexual assault. In the late 1990s, law enforcement noticed a new, disturbing trend of rape cases that involved the drugging of victims with chemicals such GHB, Ketamine, and Rohypnol. You have possibly been drugged if you feel more intoxicated than usual for the amount of alcohol you drank, or if you wake up and can’t remember where you are and what has happened over the last few hours, etc. Effects can last up to 24 hours. Users can be incapacitated and unable to resist sexual assault. Excessive use could lead to seizures and even collapse. When mixed with other drugs, including alcohol, overdose can occur quickly and be fatal. For further information, please consult our publication Drugs and Travel: Why They Don’t Mix.
If someone is arrested for the assault, you will be required to testify and attend future legal proceedings. As in Canada, legal proceedings may be prolonged.
Such events can be traumatic. You should make arrangements to talk to family and friends, or to a
professional, about the incident.
As of April 1, 2007, emergency financial assistance is available to individual Canadians who are victims of specified serious violent crimes in a foreign jurisdiction for emergency situations of undue hardship where no other source of financial assistance is available. The specified crimes are homicide, sexual assault, and aggravated assault or assault with serious personal violence, including against a child.
This emergency financial assistance is available through the Victims Fund, which is administered by the Department of Justice Policy Centre for Victim Issues (PCVI).