Sexual assault survivor, councillor-elect speaks out on Sean Chu situation
Posted Oct 20, 2021 8:26 pm.
Women, survivors, and councillors are speaking out in the aftermath of revelations about Sean Chu.
Kourtney Branagan is the councillor-elect for ward 11. She’s also a sexual assault survivor.
She didn’t expect her first order of business to be speaking out against one of her future colleagues.
“I think it sends the message that we still have so many hills to climb, or ladders to climb. It is this never-ending struggle,” said Branagan.
“It will make for some very uncomfortable conversations. We all are gathering on Friday, and it is going to be tense, and it is going to be uncomfortable.”
Sean Chu, the incumbent in ward four, was disciplined for inappropriate conduct involving a minor while he was a member of the Calgary Police Service. He has not been charged with a crime.
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Regardless, a wider conversation about the message this sends to women and girls in Calgary has been started.
Calgary has an adult population of about one million. Half of those are women.
According to Stats Canada, 39 per cent of Canadian women over the age of 15 have been sexually assaulted.
In Calgary, that would represent 200,000 women who have been assaulted – and are watching this situation play out right now.
“It makes it hard to trust, it makes it hard to believe in the system, it makes it harder to come forward,” said Branagan.
Sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes in Canada – only five per cent are reported to police.
And, according to Branagan, if the police are the potential perpetrators, this makes coming forward even more difficult.
“It speaks very much to the systems that we’re in, the systems that continue to prop up individuals that have done wrong, and feel that they shouldn’t suffer any consequences as a result of their actions. And we need to change that. “
