‘Keep Women Safe Walk’ spurred by Hamilton trail attacks

Brittani Turcotte recounted how a man made her feel really uncomfortable" at a trail near her house last September. The person blocked her way with his bicycle and made inappropriate gestures at her, she said.

Since then, Turcotte hasn't been to the trail by herself.

I have a 100-pound German shepherd, and I always make sure he's with me," she said.

Turcotte was one of a dozen women who gathered in the parking lot of Chedoke Radial Recreational Trail along Scenic Drive Sunday morning to raise awareness about growing cases of sexual assaults and attacks against women on Hamilton trails.

The Keep Women Safe Walk' was organized to highlight the issue for the city and the police.

We've had enough, and we're not going to sit back," Turcotte said, noting the series of incidents that occurred back-to-back in recent months.

Melissa Kelly, the organizer of the Sunday walk, told The Spectator that more needs to be done on behalf of our city, (and) Hamilton police so that women feel safe on our trails."

She added that having a walk demonstration" would help bring their concerns to light publicly.

In July, a woman was dragged off the trail by an unidentified man, and assaulted in the Upper Paradise Road and Donnici Drive area. The police are still looking for the suspect.

Following that incident, Kelly, a Hamilton-based boudoir photographer, decided to launch a Facebook private group called Women's Walking Group of Hamilton' for local women to team up and meet for walks.

She said she lives near that trail and that (incident) hit close to home."

The social media group is for women only, so women can converse about when they are going for a walk, which trail they're going to be at, etc.," Kelly said.

Kelly and Turcotte both think frequent police presence around trails and city surveillance cameras could help reduce assaults against women walking alone.

I have never seen Hamilton police on any of our trail entry points. That could easily prevent attacks from happening," Kelly said.

Besides, she added, the city needs video surveillance at the entry points of these trails.

If something does happen, we are able to get a description and capture the person that's doing this."

Hamilton police spokesperson Jackie Penman told The Spectator police are aware of several incidents that have occurred on Hamilton trails since June 2022."

She added that extra resources have been deployed since to increase police presence on area trails to help ensure community safety."

Besides, Penman said police will investigate every assault that is reported to us."

This isn't the first time local residents have raised the alarm about sexual assaults on local trails.

In 2019, a group of local joggers organized a similar trail walk in the wake of the assault on a woman near the Dundurn Stairs.

Kelly argued that nothing has been done" since the 2019 walk.

We don't have to live and walk in fear that something bad is going to happen to us," she said.

Ritika Dubey is a reporter at The Spectator. rdubey@thespec.com