Carleton’s Sexual Assault Support Services hosted the first #IBelieveYou day on campus on Sept. 26.
The #IBelieveYou campaign was started three years ago by the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services (AASAS), and has been brought to Ottawa this year by equity services at Carleton, the University of Ottawa, Algonquin College and La Cité Collégiale, to let survivors of sexual violence at school know about on-campus support services.
The event took place in Fenn Lounge, and included a photobooth, temporary tattoos, a community colouring poster and a giant affirmation Jenga.
Deb Tomlinson, the chief executive officer of AASAS, said the campaign and the day promote safer spaces for sexual assault survivors to share their stories.
“Many people don’t come forward and share what’s happening to them,” she said. “When people tell their stories and they get a positive response, they’re more likely to get help, get started on their healing journey, and consider their options.”
Carleton’s sexual assault support services coordinator Bailey Reid said it’s important to inform survivors of the resources available to them, even without having to make a formal report.
“[Survivors] can know that historical violence. If they’ve experienced it in childhood or in high school, it still counts, and they can still get support here on campus,” she said.
Reid also said the day is part of a bigger project called #Curious, which hosts different events throughout the first six weeks of school—a period of time known as the “red zone,” when there is a high risk for sexual violence.
“We wanted to broaden the conversation.” she said.
Fourth-year social work student Becca Gray said the campaign is important for survivors to know they have support.
“I think it’s really important to believe survivors no matter what stories they share,” Gray said. “And I think it’s really important to vocalize it, especially if you have someone who’s talked to you and connected with you one-on-one to just say ‘I believe you’ and ‘I connected with everything you shared with me.’”
She added that she believes these kinds of conversations are “really powerful” in helping survivors know somebody is on their side.
First-year law student Jaclyn Manderville said the movement also helps raise awareness of the severity of the situation.
“Sexual violence is definitely a really serious issue, and it’s really nice that our school has brought it to a new light,” she said. “ I think that more counselling programs and recognition would be good.”
The #IBelieveYou movement has been exceptionally successful in supporting survivors. A survey conducted by AASAS found that in the past three years, the percentage of people who would say “I Believe You” to a survivor of sexual violence has been raised from less than one per cent to over 20 per cent.
According to Tomlinson, the use of social media to raise awareness has helped further the cause.
“We have not seen a change take place around this issue like we have seen with the advent of social media,” she said. “A lot of these campaigns are now survivor-led.”
Reid said the celebration of the day and the movement also used social media to send the message across.
“I think we’ve had a lot of conversations about the redemption storylines of those who perpetrate sexual violence, and now we just want to make sure that survivors have a place online that doesn’t require them to share a story about why they didn’t report [it],” she said. “We just want it to be really positive and survivor-support driven.”
Photo by Jasmine Foong
