Topic:  Domestic Human Trafficking  Location:  At the National Club 303 Bay Street, Toronto. 

Detective Wendy Leaver-Toronto Police Services

Wendy Leaver is a Detective with the Toronto Police Service, where she has worked as its Sexual Assault Coordinator since 2004. She has been a Toronto Police Service officer since 1975 and a Detective with the Sex Crimes Unit since 1991. As the Sexual Assault Coordinator, she is responsible for the implementation of the services provided to victims of sexual assault and to liaising with approximately 100 agencies in the City of Toronto in relation to the mandate of the Sex Crimes Unit. In this capacity, she also provides training to agencies on sexual assault investigations and victim issues. She has also been a team leader in the Sex Crimes Unit, responsible for monitoring and directing investigations involving unidentified and serial assailants. In the course of her career with the Toronto Police Service she has been assigned to the Toronto Police Service Youth Bureau and to the Ontario Provincial Police Joint Forces Pornography Unit, investigating occurrences of child and adult pornography across Ontario.

 

 

From 1981 to 1985, Ms. Leaver was seconded to the Department of Justice where she worked on the Badgley Study as a Senior Research Associate to the Committee on Sexual Offences Against Children and Youth. In this capacity, Ms. Leaver worked under the leadership of Dr. Robin Badgley of the University of Toronto to gather and analyze the data underlying the recommendations that led to amendments to the sexual offences against young persons provisions in the Criminal Code.

Ms. Leaver is an accomplished lecturer in respect of investigations involving sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence, victim issues and pedophiles, both in Canada and internationally. She was appointed an Honorary Lecturer by the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine and Social Sciences as a result of having developed and implemented a course for medical students on sexual assault and pedophile profiling, which consisted of lectures and street interviews with prostitutes and homeless youth. Ms. Leaver has assisted in the development of the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Course at C.O. Bick College and has lectured there on the topics of victim interviews, false allegations and the investigation of pedophiles. She presented an information paper titled “The Investigation of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence in Canada” and lectured on the exchange of information on investigative procedures in sexual assault and domestic violence investigations at the National Conference on Sexual and Physical Abuse in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As well, Ms. Leaver represented the Canadian government at the International Seminar on Women and Human Rights and Police and Judicial Systems in Quito, Ecuador, a seminar sponsored in part by the United Nations, where she presented lectures on sexual assault and domestic violence laws, victim issues and investigative techniques.

Ms. Leaver has made important contributions to training in the areas of sexual assault, child abuse and the development of community-based support groups for pedophiles and sex offenders. She has developed and implemented two-week courses for Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators and Canadian Armed Forces National Investigation Service officers on sexual assault and child abuse. As well, Ms. Leaver has provided training sessions to police, probation, parole and penitentiary personnel in 2

London, England, on the development of community-based support groups for pedophiles and sex offenders. In addition, she has provided a two-week training course to police personnel, psychiatrists and forensic scientists on sexual assault investigations, victim issues and interviewing techniques at the Jordan Police Directorate in Amman, Jordan.

Ms. Leaver has a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree from Marianopolis College and a Certificate in Social Work from the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. She has served on the Board of Governors of the Metropolitan Toronto YMCA, the Mennonite Central Committee Circle of Support and the Variety Club of Ontario.