‘It’s not their shame to carry’: Woman opens up about alleged sexual assault by chiropractor to support other possible victims

A woman who says she was sexually assaulted by a chiropractor in Edmonton is hoping to encourage more possible victims to come forward.

At the time of the alleged assault, the woman was in law school studying how the justice system can better support victims of these types of crimes.

The chiropractor denies the allegations and is scheduled to challenge them in court next year, but first, he faces a series of professional hearings, with one beginning on Tuesday.

The sign is still up for Bradley Basaraba’s clinic on Jasper Avenue, but chiropractic appointments are on hiatus. The clinic is up for sale while Basaraba’s licence is suspended.

“He was really attentive to me and made me feel believed, and like he could do something about my condition,” Olive Bensler told CTV News Edmonton.

Bensler went to Basaraba in 2024 for help with her Long Covid symptoms.

She says the first couple of appointments went well.

“He got to know that I was a law student, that I was actively researching sexual assault law, that I was coming from a prosecution job, heading into another criminal law position,” she said.

But one day in April, Bensler says Basaraba crossed the line from professional to personal, making her uncomfortable as the appointment went on.

“He did some minor assessments while I was lying on my back, and then he told me to lay on my stomach and he said, ‘I’m going to adjust your hip.’

“He placed his hand right at the top of my inner thigh, right at my vagina basically, and put his thumb under my butt and did an ‘adjustment.’”

On the spectrum of what constitutes sexual assault by the letter of the law, Bensler acknowledges that her alleged experience may seem minor, but she says Basaraba’s actions were unprofessional and inappropriate.

“He did not ask me to touch me in that way,” she said. “He did not explain why he was going to do that, I absolutely did not consent to it.”

The College of Chiropractors of Alberta temporarily suspended Basaraba’s licence in the wake of Bensler’s allegations.

In the two years since the alleged assault, police have heard from 13 other women who claim Basaraba touched them inappropriately too.

He’s scheduled to face 11 counts of sexual assault at a trial in February and there are parallel professional regulatory hearings happening this month, with Basaraba’s licence to practice on the line.

Inspired by her own research into sexual assault law, Bensler requested her name not be withheld during the hearing on Tuesday.

“I saw this as an opportunity to show people that it’s not their shame to carry when they experience sexual assault,” she said.

Reports that two other women submitted to the college allege Basaraba “lifted up (the patient’s) shirt and/or undid her bra” during a spinal exam in January 2024.

Another from June 2022 alleges Basaraba “touched (the patient’s) pubic bone and/or vagina” while treating a leg condition.

Basaraba’s lawyer, Craig Paterson, said: “It is Dr. Basaraba’s position that inappropriate touching did not happen. Some touching did, but it was part of a clinically recognized procedure.”

Paterson says the allegations have caused his client emotional, financial and reputational damage. He denies all of them, and when it comes to Bensler’s claim specifically, he says: “He did not do it, he was charged criminally for the same event and that has been stayed, so it’s no longer active.”

The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service confirms the prosecutor determined the criminal charge “could not proceed.”

Bensler says a stay is not the same as an acquittal, and hopes that going through the professional hearing process publicly will encourage more women to come forward.

“It is never too late on charges like these to speak to authorities, and I think the more people we have involved in this process the stronger the case is, and the more likely we get a positive outcome that protects the public.”

The College of Chiropractors has not made a decision on the professional misconduct allegations in front of it, and none of the criminal charges have been tested in court.