A Toronto doctor has been arrested and faces six counts of sexual assault, the Justice Department of Canada announced Monday.
Dr. Mohammad Akhter of Toronto was arrested Thursday and charged.
Akhter is also alleged to have sexually assaulted several women who believed they were performing “interventions” with his patients.
The alleged crimes were allegedly committed between 2002 and 2010.
Canada’s justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, announced the arrest after Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale addressed the concerns about violence against Indigenous women, Wanda Morris of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations of Manitoba said that would provide more comfort for family members of the victims in that situation.
“It just reinforces how important it is to have the rest of the system involved,” she said, adding that the main concern was what kind of action the feds would take to stop sexual violence against Indigenous women.
First Nations women are, in fact, at high risk. According to the Women’s Rights Foundation, the problem of violence against Indigenous women is worse than elsewhere in the world.