Intimate image sharing key focus of International Women's Day event in Thunder Bay, Ont.

WARNING: This story contains references to physical and sexual violence.

Sharing intimate images without consent was the focus of Friday's International Women's Day flag-raising event in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The keynote address, delivered by social worker Karen Slomke, was in response to an ongoing cyber crime investigation in the northwestern Ontario city. More than a dozen people were charged last month with 172 offences related to the distribution of intimate images without consent, using an online chat platform.

On Thursday, another person was charged in connection with the case. The Thunder Bay Police Service says at least 117 alleged victims have been identified.

"The images themselves are not the issue, unless they were attained through extortion," Slomke said during the event at City Hall.

"It is the violation of ownership, privacy and consent that has caused and continues to cause harm."

As women gathered to raise the white and purple flag, they also spoke of ways to raise awareness of the impact the cyber crime incident has had on the community.

"The victims themselves have been harmed. The family and friends of those victims have been harmed. People wondering if they're also going to be victimized [by] this are harmed," Slomke said.

"This type of event traumatizes every level of our community and just separates people more, because we know trauma impacts the ability of people to relate safely with one another."

'Something that's being normalized'

Among the charges laid last month were luring, extortion, and child pornography. Police say some of the victims could be as young as 12 years old.

When women experience this type of sexual violence, this erodes their sense of community connection, Slomke said.

"As you're perceived as an object, it's much easier to harm you than it is to harm a person that you know intimately and care for," she said.

Gwen O'Reilly is the executive director of the Northwestern Ontario Women's Centre, which hosted Friday's event. O'Reilly said she invited Slomke to speak because she wanted to help prevent these incidents from occurring.

"The widespread distribution of images of women is something that's being normalized, and there doesn't seem to be any particular organized effort to stop it," O'Reilly said.

A starting point, she said, is for everyone to delete intimate images on their phones that don't belong to them.

Beyond that, she wants to see more support for women and girls as they navigate these situations in online spaces, and more accountability for the men at fault.

"They need to understand their own vulnerability in order to have actual equitable relationships with women, and looking at intimate images of other people is not that."

Protecting Indigenous women and girls

While cyber crime was the main theme of Friday's event, advocate Ardelle Sagutcheway also raised her voice about the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, who are six times more likely to be murdered than other groups of people in Canada.

More than four in 10 Indigenous women experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, while over 55 per cent of Indigenous women experienced violence from non-intimate partners, Statistics Canada reported in 2022.

Sagutcheway spoke about a case that's been making headlines south of the border, where the dismembered remains of a young girl from the San Carlos Apache Tribe were found in Arizona last month. The Gila County Sheriff's Office says the case is being investigated as a homicide.

The family has identified the victim as 14-year-old Emily Pike, as reported by the New York Post.

After moving from Eabametoong First Nation to Thunder Bay to complete high school, Sagutcheway said she recognizes the heightened safety risks faced by Indigenous girls, particularly when they are displaced from home.

"I came up for high school when I was 14 and I had no support for that," she said. "I speak up now for young me, but also for future Indigenous youth."

Now, as a mother herself raising daughters, Sagutcheway said she wants to see more support for Indigenous and non-Indigenous girls in the city.

As for Slomke, she said everyone in the community plays a role in improving women's safety.

"There's such an opportunity here for change, but it takes the investment of all of our community members to do that," she said. 

The Northwestern Ontario Women's Centre has compiled a list of resources related to technology-facilitated violence, in response to the ongoing cyber crime investigation.

Meanwhile, the Thunder Bay Police Service asks anyone with information about the case to contact Det. Const. Joel Manherz at 807-684-1200 ext. 4115. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.

Anyone who requires immediate emotional assistance related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls can contact a national, toll-free 24/7 crisis line at 1-844-413-6649.