Two years after the Yukon government announced plans for the launch of a sexualized assault response team (SART) in the spring of 2018, the program has not reached official lift-off.

Government officials, however, say they are making measured improvements to sexual assault response across departments.

“I think the approach that we’ve taken is to work on continual improvement,” Hillary Aitken, the director of the Women’s Directorate, told the Star recently.

“We will continue to reorient pieces, and continue to build on what’s working and what needs to change.”

Aitken said there is an internal systems change underway to shift into victim-centred sexualized assault support.

There have been three major advancements so far, she said.

First, a clinical co-ordinator was hired last June and is working with the Department of Health and Social Services to act as liaison to medical care providers.

Second, a victim support co-ordinator was hired last February and is currently recruiting after-hours victim support workers.

Finally, a protocol developer is streamlining the changes to ensure they “outlast any of us who are in these positions now,” Aitken said.

The overhaul into a new era of sexualized assault support will be necessarily slow, Aitken said, and involves restructuring existing systems.

“I think the reality is victims and people who experience sexualized violence have been underserved for a long time,” Aitken said.

“We know there are high rates of violence and low rates of reporting; we’ve known for a long time we need to do something different … it just can’t happen overnight.”

Aitken said she has seen “really great things” happen so far and is optimistic for further improvements to the system.

Once sexualized response services have been more drastically improved, Aitken said the next step will be to raise awareness of the improved programming so victims are encouraged to seek them out.

In the legislature on Nov. 25, NDP Leader Kate White grilled Justice Minister Tracy Anne-McPhee on the status of the long-promised SART.

“The commitment was made in December 2017 for the spring of 2018, and here we are, nearing the end of 2019,” White said.

“It’s not as if creating a response team is uncharted waters. Models exist and there are many capable organizations and individuals in Yukon and elsewhere that could provide support and insight.”

White questioned the existence of the promised after-hours response line promised as part of SART.

In a later interview with media, White said she believes the government is falling short on its commitment to sexual assault victims.

“I think if you really committed to having something up and running by 2018 … then we wouldn’t be talking about the steps you started in 2019 to get it going,” she said.

McPhee responded in the house that implementing SART is a long-term goal.

“Our goal is to create a gold standard of holistic care –– as I’ve noted earlier –– on a reasonable timeline,” McPhee said. “We agree that it has taken longer than initially anticipated to do so.”

McPhee noted that victims can receive support through various streams, including Victim Services, Mental Wellness Services and RCMP.

“It is not the case that victims of sexual assaults have been left without services,” she said.

The government is on a path to achieve the response team, she said, and engagement with the Council of Yukon First Nations began in November 2018.

The SART implementation team meets every two weeks with plans to launch the victim support phone line, McPhee said.

Aitken told the Star there are some misconceptions about what the launch of SART will look like, and there will not necessarily be a static “start and end date” but rather a continual adjustment.

“You get this image of people showing up with SART matching coats, and they’re going to be there to respond (and) to solve all things sexual violence-related, and that’s not really what SART is,” Aitken said.

“It’s building a team out of existing agencies. I recognize this needs to be an evolving process, there needs to be room to grow.”