Robin Gardner Voce

Robin Gardner Voce is another woman who was victim of misconduct by Metro Toronto Police officers. Two members of the Toronto force were convicted of raping her in their police cruiser after finding her drunk on a downtown street late one night in February 1984. She forced the cops to press charges against their fellow-officers by confronting the two the next day; carrying a hidden recorder, she got their boastful admissions on tape. Her case preceded those of both "Jane Does;" she died, an apparent suicide, while the case was still before the court.

Fiona Stewart helped launch a vigorous campaign to exert public pressure on Ontario's Chief Coroner for an official inquest into Robin's death; the campaign included organizing a media conference and a candle-light vigil in front of police headquarters, speaking at a Take Back the Night rally and circulating a public petition calling for an inquest. It succeeded in obtaining 3000 names on the petition. The Chief Coroner ordered a thorough investigation into Robin's death, the results of which explained that Robin likely took her own life in response to the intense pressure and violation she had experience at the hands of the Metro Toronto Police.

Robin Gardner Voce Non-Profit Homes is a beautiful, 115-unit, affordable housing project in Scarborough, Ontario offering permanent shelter for women escaping all kinds of abuse. This project, more than five years in the planning, was Fiona's attempt to memorialize one of the victims who came before her, to render something productive and enduring out of needless suffering, and to create a permanent reminder of the reality and the danger of police misconduct.

News Stories About Robin Voce

• Officers had rights violated, lawyers say
  Toronto Star, April 19, 1990
  
• Fired constables fight conviction
  Toronto Star, May 9, 1990
  
• Sex case woman mourned as project opens
  Toronto Star, October 1, 1995