Canadian universities and colleges could have their federal funding withheld if they fail to address sexual violence on campuses by next year, according to the 2018 federal budget.
All post-secondary institutions who fail to implement policies that deal with sexual assault by 2019, will be subject to federal funding cuts.
“There is a need for federal leadership in this area, to support a harmonized national approach and dialogue, leading to strategies to address sexual violence, to create safe campuses, and to remove the stigma from reporting or seeking support following sexual violence,” the document reads.
This consideration by the government came after they noted that 41 per cent of all sexual assaults in Canada were reported by students.
Joshua Kirkey, director of communications for the federal government’s Status of Women in Canada department, said in an email that gender-based violence is a serious problem at universities and college campuses across Canada.
“Many post-secondary institutions and stakeholders are working hard to address these issues and respond to gender-based violence across Canada. However, a more concerted effort is needed,” he said.
Jade Cooligan Pang, the chair of Our Turn Carleton, said they met with federal government officials to lobby for this consideration, which she said would be used as an incentive to have “good, strong sexual violence policies.”
She said while Bill 132 was introduced by the Ontario government in 2016 (which mandated that all post-secondary institutions have a stand-alone sexual violence policy), there’s no oversight to ensure that these policies are serving their purpose.
“So, advocating for a change in the legislation . . . that’s just one step in many that we have to take to make sure that our campuses are safer and everybody is able to enjoy their post-secondary experience without fear of being assaulted,” Pang said.
Kirkey said the budget proposes $5.5 million over five years, starting in 2018-19, to Status of Women Canada to support the development and implementation of policies to address sexual assault on campuses.
He said the intent is to work with universities and colleges to improve existing policies and practices.
“However, if after consultation and continued discussion, a post-secondary institution does not take action, the government will consider other options to eradicate gender-based violence on campuses once and for all,” Kirkey said.
Nour Alideeb, the chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, said she is happy about the funding that will be provided to address the issue. However, she said she’s concerned about how this approach will look.
“What is that actually doing?” she said. “You’re taking away resources for us to create or to improve the institutions’ resources to become the standard that we want.”
Our Turn, a student-led initiative to end sexual violence on campus, released their National Action Plan in October 2017, which lays out a list of principles that student unions can adopt to prevent sexual violence, support survivors, and advocate for change on their campuses, according to the document.
The group measured the effectiveness of various sexual violence policies using the grading system outlined in the document. Under the Our Turn criteria, eight out of 14 universities rated received a grade of “C” or lower in terms how their administration handles reports of sexual assault.
According to Pang, it’s also important that post-secondary institutions put survivor-centric polices in place.
“We need an oversight mechanism to make sure that cases aren’t falling through the cracks and that if something does happen, the survivors aren’t re-traumatized by their university or by their college when they’re going through the reporting system,” Pang said.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
