Sex offences against Calgary children have increased during the pandemic

Sarah MacDonald is a forensic interviewer who deals with young victims and their stories of sexual abuse.

Asked to describe what that's like, she was guarded in her response.

"I talk to children as young as three years old, all the way to 17- and 18-year-olds," said MacDonald, who works at the Luna Child and Youth Advocacy Centre in Calgary.

"And I think we all have an understanding that this work is tremendously difficult."

Not only is it difficult to hear stories of sexual abuse from children, but more victims have been coming forward over the past two years to report being a victim of a sexual offence.

Calgary police say the most recent crime stats show the number of youth victims through to the end of September 2021 reached 517, a nearly 21 per cent increase over the five year average and a 21 per cent increase over the same nine month period in 2020. 

"The strength of these little ones to come forward and talk about this in our youth is phenomenal," said Staff Sgt. Brad Moore with the child abuse unit, which is based at Luna, formerly known as the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre.

"It allows us to support them," Moore said of the increase in children reporting abuse.

He says more children have been isolated at home during the pandemic and have been spending more time on their computers, which may lead to the sharing and distribution of explicit images. Police are also dealing with more peer-to-peer incidents of abuse involving junior and high school children. 

"There's in-person physical contact, sexual assault happening and a lot of it stems around consent or informed consent or what they thought was informed consent," said Moore.

The CEO of Luna says the centre is dealing with an approximate 15 per cent increase in the number of files and requests for service compared with a year ago — and there was a spike toward the end of the year.

"It's hard to know exactly why that's happening. But it is important for us to be able to share with the community that it is happening," said Karen Orser.

In the last quarter of 2021 alone, the centre took in 307 files, an increase of nearly 50 per cent from the same period in 2020. That's an average of three new files every day. The centre also says the number of forensic interviews is up by about 20 per cent. 

"Child abuse is everyone's issue, and it's everyone's responsibility to know what's happening and to also play a role in keeping kids safe," she said.