Taking public transportation in Ottawa can be daunting, especially for first-year students from cities without a public transportation system or who are new to commuting on their own. However, the difficulty of commuting can be made much worse by the threat of experiencing harassment or assault while taking a public bus or train.
OC Transpo, Ottawa’s public transportation system, collected 800 online reports of incidents of harassment, assault, and other troubling behaviour between June 2015 and June 2017.
To combat this, welcome packages for new students should include information to educate students on what they should do if they are targeted while commuting on public transportation, and what to do if they witness threatening, illegal, or suspicious behaviour on public transit. Many students participating in frosh are inexperienced at using Ottawa’s public transit.
Including this important information as a part of frosh programming may help prevent students from being victimized on public transit, and to know what to do if they witness someone else being harassed or assaulted.
Students can report incidents such as leering, verbal or physical harassment, and threats of harm through OC Transpo’s online reporting system.
Reports can be anonymous to avoid involving the police, if preferred. Students should call 9-1-1 if the incident is an emergency.
