Nicole Freeborn from the Guelph Union of Tenants and Supporters

Nicole is a veteran of the Guelph Union of Tenants and Supporters (GUTS), which is an anti-poverty and housing advocacy organization in Guelph. At a protest to shutdown the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal, which facilitates the evictions of people who are unable to afford their rent, Nicole was sexually assaulted by police officer Brian Welsh. Brian pushed her from behind up against a wall, shoved his crotch into her, and asked her, 'How do you like that?'

An investigation into the assault was launched by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), which is a group of mostly ex-cops who are expected to investigate the crimes of other cops. As you'd expect, only about 1-3% of the hundreds of cases against cops ever result in the cops being found guilty of anything. To no one's surprise, the allegations of sexual assault against Brian Welsh were found to be 'false', and the SIU refuses to show anyone the evidence they used to come to this decision.

Nicole talks about this series of events, and she also talks about her experience with the SIU, the media's propagandizing, and the other great work that GUTS does, which includes casework for people experiencing troubles with landlords or government agencies, and offering free dinners downtown twice a week, among many other things.

Download 17:23 Recorded on August 9, 2006