No longer anonymous. Survivor of Jacob Hoggard sexual assault speaks publicly for the first time
WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
In 2022, Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard was found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm and sentenced to five years in prison.
One young woman’s testimony led to that guilty verdict. But until now, she has only been known as “J.B.,” “Emma” or “the Ottawa woman” — a faceless figure at the centre of a high-profile sexual assault case.
In the documentary Breaking Idol, she reveals her identity for the first time, reclaiming her story and her life.
A life-altering decision to step forward
Hoggard originally rose to fame while competing on Canadian Idol in 2004. The following year, his band, Hedley, began to gain popularity and went on to become one of Canada’s biggest pop-rock acts, dominating radio and playlists until 2018.
For a legion of fans, the group’s music was a soundtrack to their lives and offered them a shared identity. Hedley’s rise also coincided with the internet’s explosion into a social ecosystem that collapsed the distance between the general public and celebrities, making some fans feel as if they had a relationship with the band.
“I felt like I knew Jacob,” says one former fan in the documentary. “It was an emotional connection.”
Then, on Feb. 12, 2018, one year after the #MeToo movement rose to prominence, a tweet asking for “creepy stories about Hedley” went viral.
Seemingly overnight, the internet was flooded with stories of Hoggard’s alleged misconduct. In a statement put out by the band at the time, they referred to the allegations as "simply unsubstantiated," while saying they "respect and applaud the #MeToo movement. Fans, predominantly women and girls, began picking sides: stand with the accusers or defend their idol.
Many chose the latter, including a group of fans who called themselves the #HedleyArmy in support of Hoggard. Some shared #IStandWithHedley posts while others began attacking the credibility of Hoggard’s accusers online.
One accuser’s story gained national attention on Feb. 25, 2018, when CBC investigative journalist Judy Trinh published J.B.’s account.
In the fall of 2016, the young woman said she saw Hoggard come up on the dating app Tinder. The daily Snapchats that followed ended a few weeks later after a meetup a Toronto hotel, where J.B. said he raped her.
In Breaking Idol, she speaks publicly and identifies herself for the first time, after seeking to have her publication ban lifted. “For the past seven years, I’ve been referred to as ‘J.B.,’ ‘Emma,’ ‘the Ottawa woman,’ a liar,” she says. “My name is Jessica Baker.”
Looking back, Baker says she had not intended to go to police because she was certain nothing would come of it. But when she learned of another complainant who was making similar accusations about Hoggard, she chose to become a corroborating witness.
“The other complainant, she was underage. And knowing what he did to me, I can only imagine what he did to her,” she says in the documentary.
Deciding to come forward would come at a cost. Baker faced four long years of waiting due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic, when she says her life came to a standstill. Meanwhile, she regularly witnessed fans making dismissive and threatening comments about her online.
“A lot of people were tweeting about me. ‘Once we find out who she is, we should kill her.’ ‘If she's lying, she should be shot,’” she says. “It’s really difficult, especially because he got to live a normal life. He got married and he had a child.”
In May 2022, the trial began and Baker gave her testimony.
“Going to court was like a second assault,” she says, recalling the cross-examination process. “And worse because you’re sitting in front of the person that did the worst thing possible to you.”
‘It’s reclaiming my story’
After a month-long trial, where Hoggard pleaded not-guilty to all charges, the verdict arrived: Hoggard was found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm in Baker’s case, but he was not found guilty of the same charge and of sexual interference — a charge that refers to the sexual touching of someone under 16 — in the case of the younger complainant.
For Baker, feelings of relief and heartbreak collided. “It hit me that she didn’t get a guilty verdict … it’s all I could think about,” she says in the documentary.
If she could speak to the younger woman today, Baker says she’d want her to know that she believes her and that “a not-guilty verdict is not an innocent verdict.”
For survivors of sexual violence, anonymity can function as a shield against public scrutiny and stigma. But it can also erase the human being behind a case.
“Many fans would say, ‘This man’s music saved my life,’” says Toronto-based music journalist and culture critic Sarah MacDonald in Breaking Idol. “‘What does it matter? This is a nameless, faceless person who I don’t know.’”
By sharing her identity and experience, Baker hopes others will see her as a person and help her regain control of her own narrative.
“It’s very lonely and very isolating when you keep it to yourself … I didn’t want that to be the rest of my life, as I’m the person that was raped by Jacob Hoggard,” she says.
“It’s reclaiming my story. It’s my story to tell now.”
Watch Breaking Idol on CBC Gem and the CBC Docs YouTube channel. Produced by Frantic Films.
For more: Beyond The Verdict is a Canadian survivor-led advocacy group (co-founded by Baker) supporting sexual assault survivors by challenging misinformation in the courtroom and advocating for trauma-informed justice.
Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
