About Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC)

The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) is a network of sexual assault centres across Ontario. We represent 29 English-language sexual assault centres. Our membership includes sexual assault centres from across Ontario, offering counselling, information and support services to survivors of sexual violence, including childhood sexual abuse and incest.

We represent 29 sexual assault centres in Ontario.

About Ontario Sexual Assault Centres 

Member centres have been supporting survivors of sexual violence and offering prevention education since 1977: Centre services include counselling to survivors of recent and historical sexual violence, accompaniment to hospital, police and court, advocacy and crisis support.

In one year alone, Ontario’s sexual assault centres responded to over 50,000 crisis line calls. Comprehensive community awareness and public education programs on sexual violence, prevention of sexual violence, responding to sexual assault disclosures training for professionals, sexual harassment in the workplace, online/digital sexual violence, human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, impacts of sexual violence on survivor-victims, and other subjects are offered by all Ontario sexual assault centres.

You can get in touch with a sexual assault centre in your community in any region in Ontario. 

All centre services are free and confidential. Services include:

• Face-to-face counselling
• 24-hour counselling and crisis line
• Group counselling
• Hospital, police reporting & court accompaniment
• Information and support for partners, families and friends of survivors
• Public education on sexual assault, harassment, healthy relationships, human trafficking and more
• Participation on community workgroups and committees, and partnerships with diverse community groups
• Information on the legal system and other community resources
• Social activism

What do we do?

• We speak up with and for survivors of sexual violence, bust victim-blaming myths, and reduce stigma of who have been sexually violated.  

• We speak to the media about sexual violence myths and misconceptions, the facts about reporting and conviction rates in Canada, and the needs of survivors in local communities.  

• We partner with allies such as the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children, The Learning Network on Violence Against Women to share information about sexual violence and its root causes.  

• We help other organizations to develop sexual violence training for professionals.  

• We engage with the provincial government on policy issues relevant to sexual violence.  

• We make policy recommendations on issues relevant to sexual violence, the needs of survivors, and sexual assault centres.  

• We participate in public education on sexual violence.  

• We facilitate communication between sexual assault centres in Ontario.  

• We work with other regional, provincial and national groups addressing sexual violence and other forms of gender-based violence.  

• ...and much more!

OCRCC’s work includes partnering with various community allies to develop training for professionals to improve their skills in respectfully responding to sexual assault disclosures.  Our provincial public education campaign “Draw The Line”, funded by the Ministry of Status of Women and developed in partnership with Action ontarienne, challenges common myths about sexual violence, and equips bystanders with information on how to intervene safely and effectively.