VANCOUVER, BC - Students organizations across the country have released a joint publication on campus sexual violence titled, Shared Perspectives : A Joint Publication on Campus Sexual Violence Prevention and Response. In the publication, students from Victoria to Charlottetown express the need to eradicate sexual violence on their campuses.
The publication identifies challenges and opportunities that exist in individual provinces, but also looks past provincial borders in order to highlight sexual violence as a national problem that all jurisdictions must work to solve. Shared Perspectives provides an understanding of the issues students experience on campuses across our country, and emphasizes how we must work together at all levels to end sexual violence on post-secondary campuses across Canada.
Public institutions in BC have had sexual violence and misconduct policies in place for almost a year, making this a good time to review the progress that has been made. While some institutions have opened support centers and offered training, others have not been able to do so, and the implementation of the policy has varied from institution to institution.
“The ABCS was excited to partner with CASA to share our perspectives and experiences with sexual violence on campus,” said Caitlin McCutchen, ABCS Chairperson. “This publication shows that while our experiences are distinct, sexual violence is pervasive across the country, and while there has been progress in some areas no province has found a solution.”
Sexual violence is a systemic problem that affects us all, but students know that sexual violence is a gendered crime, in which women are far more likely to be victimized. Women with disabilities, Indigenous women, LGBTQ+ students, and women of marginalized groups, are at especially high risk of experiencing such crimes. The partners in this publication believe no one should ever be faced with sexual violence, especially when pursuing an education, yet at this time 1 in 5 female students will experience sexual violence during their post-secondary studies. Students are a vulnerable group, and this publication illustrates how essential partnership is in combating the current campus reality and building safer communities.
Shared Perspectives: A Joint Publication on Campus Sexual Violence Prevention and Response is the first joint report from all 8 partners, representing over 570,000 students.