Central Nova Sexualized Assault Response Team (CNSART) 82 Esplanade Street, Truro, NS, Canada, B2N 2K3 May 11, 2015 Email: [email protected]Dr. James MacLachlan, College President College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia Suite 5005 - 7071 Bayers Road Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3L 2C2 E-mail: [email protected]Phone: 902-422-5823 | Fax: 902-422-7476 Toll-Free:1-877-282-7767 Dear Dr. James MacLachlan, We the members of the Central Nova Sexualized Assault Response Team (CNSART) recently engaged in an educational session presented by SANE nurse Heather Blackburn. She gave a most comprehensive insight into the professional responsibilities required in the collection of DNA evidence using a sexual assault evidence collection kit which Ms. Blackburn referred to as a ‘rape kit’. This kit, we learned, is supplied by the RCMP and has not been updated for decades. SANE nurses do not follow the outdated instructions regarding the collection of head and pubic hairs which suggest the plucking of 30 pubic hairs for example. Instead, their practice is to comb or cut pubic and head hairs for foreign material. During this presentation we learned that physicians working in Nova Scotian emergency departments can be called upon to perform examinations using a sexual assault evidence collection kit but are not specifically trained in sexual assault evidence collection. Therefore, they follow the outdated plucking instruction contained in the kit. These professional practice differences between the SANE and unspecialized medical staff promoted us to research the practices of other jurisdictions. The outcome is the enclosed CNSART Position Statement. Dr. MacLachlan, we ask that this Position Statement be circulated to the members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia with a request that the practice of plucking pubic and head hair of a person who has suffered a sexualized assault or gang rape be discontinued. Enduring sexualized violence has a devastating impact on the person so victimized therefore based on SANE practices and our findings of other jurisdictions we see no rationale to continue the practice of plucking head and pubic hair samples. Sincerely, Heather Russell Executive Director Central Nova Women's Resource Centre For Central Nova Sexualized Assault Response Team (CNSART)
A letter from the Central Nova Sexualized Assault Response Team.
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Central Nova Sexualized Assault Response Team (CNSART) 82
Esplanade Street, Truro, NS, Canada, B2N 2K3 May 11, 2015 Email:
[email protected] Dr. James MacLachlan, College President College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia Suite 5005 - 7071 Bayers
Road Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3L 2C2 E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 902-422-5823 | Fax: 902-422-7476 Toll-Free:1-877-282-7767
Dear Dr. James MacLachlan, We the members of the Central Nova
Sexualized Assault Response Team (CNSART) recently engaged in an
educational session presented by SANE nurse Heather Blackburn. She
gave a most comprehensive insight into the professional
responsibilities required in the collection of DNA evidence using a
sexual assault evidence collection kit which Ms. Blackburn referred
to as a rape kit. This kit, we learned, is supplied by the RCMP and
has not been updated for decades. SANE nurses do not follow the
outdated instructions regarding the collection of head and pubic
hairs which suggest the plucking of 30 pubic hairs for example.
Instead, their practice is to comb or cut pubic and head hairs for
foreign material. During this presentation we learned that
physicians working in Nova Scotian emergency departments can be
called upon to perform examinations using a sexual assault evidence
collection kit but are not specifically trained in sexual assault
evidence collection. Therefore, they follow the outdated plucking
instruction contained in the kit. These professional practice
differences between the SANE and unspecialized medical staff
promoted us to research the practices of other jurisdictions. The
outcome is the enclosed CNSART Position Statement. Dr. MacLachlan,
we ask that this Position Statement be circulated to the members of
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia with a
request that the practice of plucking pubic and head hair of a
person who has suffered a sexualized assault or gang rape be
discontinued. Enduring sexualized violence has a devastating impact
on the person so victimized therefore based on SANE practices and
our findings of other jurisdictions we see no rationale to continue
the practice of plucking head and pubic hair samples.
Sincerely,
Heather Russell Executive Director Central Nova Women's Resource
Centre For Central Nova Sexualized Assault Response Team
(CNSART)
