TORONTO — Two thirds of Canadians questioned for a new online survey believe the majority of sexual assault claims are true.
The survey from the Canadian Women's Foundation comes amidst high-profile sexual assault cases over the past year that questioned the credibility of women that report sexual assault.
The survey found 67 per cent of respondents believe the majority of sexual assault claims are true, compared to seven per cent who believe the claims are exaggerated and one per cent who believe they are false.
Twenty four per cent of respondents said they didn't know what to believe.
Respondents were also asked who they thought was usually to blame for sexual assault, with 73 per cent blaming the perpetrator. Only two per cent blamed the victim.
According to Statistics Canada, less than one in ten sexual assaults committed each year are reported to police.
"It's encouraging to see that Canadians believe the majority of sexual assault claims," said Anuradha Dugal, director of violence prevention at the Canadian Women's Foundation.
"The credibility of women who have come forward has been tested in several high-profile cases, which could lead Canadians to take a more skeptical view of sexual assault claims. We're pleased to see the opposite."
The online survey was conducted between April 13 to April 14 among 1,507 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists. The margin of errors is plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
