Bill 132 increases prevention, protection, and support
The University of Guelph has announced an updated policy on sexual violence, highlighting a survivor-centric method of training and support in the campus community.
The update was mainly catalyzed by Bill 132, which passed in Ontario legislation in March 2015.
The bill requires that all Ontario colleges and universities have formal policies and procedures approved by their board of governors. The new policy for U of G was implemented on Jan. 1, 2017.
For Brenda Whiteside, U of G’s associate vice-president of student affairs, the drafting of an updated policy was more than a year in the making.
Whiteside chaired the committee that carried out the process, which began in fall 2015, several months before Bill 132 was finalized.
“It’s important to recognize we’ve had a sexual violence committee for a couple years now, which looks at the support system, anti-stigma campaigns, and training,” Whiteside told The Ontarion.
As part of the drafting process, the sexual violence advisory committee met with several representatives from the Central Student Association, the Graduate Student Association, Interhall Council, the Guelph Resource Centre for Gender Empowerment and Diversity, the International Student Organization, and the Guelph Black Student Association (formerly the C. J. Munford Centre), among others.
A major innovation in the new policy and procedure is the creation of a student case director position. As part of the Office for Student Affairs, the student case director amalgamates all the information and resources available on campus and in the community into one person. That person, Robin Begin, formerly served as director of campus police, and brings with her 27 years of experience.
“When this legislation came out, part of it was that the government wants universities and colleges to identify a ‘point person’ who can sit down with a survivor and honestly explain the process to the person so they can make the best informed decision they can,” Begin told The Ontarion. “That’s going to be my role going forward.”
“Not everyone’s going to come to me, and I appreciate that, but those who want to go to one person to get all their questions answered, that will be me. My role is to support them [and] advocate for them.”
The challenge, according to Begin, is changing the community’s understanding of sexual violence.
“I think we as a society have always said sexual assault is forced intercourse without consent, and this legislation talks about all kinds of behaviour,” said Begin, “[For example], in residence, when someone takes photos of someone without their consent, or shares videos of sex acts. Sharing that information is still an act of sexual violence. That’s what the Ontario government wanted to make very clear.”
Consequently, the most notable change in both Bill 132 and in U of G’s policy update is the shift from referring to “sexual assault” to the term “sexual violence,” which references a range of behaviour that isn’t strictly physical.
According to Bill 132, sexual violence is defined as: “Any sexual act or act targeting a person’s sexuality, gender identity or gender expression, whether the act is physical or psychological in nature, that is committed, threatened or attempted against a person without the person’s consent.”
This includes behaviours ranging from sexual assault and sexual harassment to stalking, indecent exposure, voyeurism, and sexual exploitation.
“It’s a much broader category,” said Whiteside. “Our protocol has always been very survivor-centric, but […] really articulating that clearly was a big change.”
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Under the updated policy, an individual can disclose information about sexual violence and receive counselling or academic support without having an investigation conducted. This makes the process of responding to incidences of sexual violence simpler and allows for survivors to get both emotional and academic support.
Another component of the policy is widespread training for university faculty and staff on three levels.
“Level 1” consists of an online module, which will be released by the end of the month. The module targets all staff and faculty and educates about consent, myths about sexual violence, how to help someone who discloses that they’ve been sexually violated, and resources and supports on campus.
“Level 2” is an hour-and-a-half training session that targets student leaders, program counsellors, faculty deans, chairs, and appeals committees who are more likely to have incidences disclosed to them.
“Level 3” is a three-hour program that targets doctors, nurses, counsellors, and campus police personnel who work very closely with survivors. This part of the program has already been implemented.
“[The training], to me, is going to have more of an impact for survivors than crafting a policy,” said Whiteside.
U of G also took the opportunity to create a website entirely devoted to information and support for sexual violence. Users are able to report sexual violence, seek resources as survivors, or learn how to support a survivor. It also provides 24-hour resources available in the city, including Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, Good2Talk, Campus Community Police, and Guelph Police Service.
According to Begin, instances of sexual violence involving alcohol are among the most prominent across campuses.
“Alcohol is a factor in many of our sexual violence incidents, and consent is the issue,” she said. “That’s why I think it’s so important that we’re educating on consent.”
Accordingly, U of G has started to hold events that promote consent and encourage people not to stand by. First-year Gryphons participated in the “Stop. Ask.” campaign during orientation week.
“We’ve started aligning [events] around high-risk times, like Saint Patrick’s Day or homecoming,” said Whiteside. “It’s a societal issue, and I think places that put their head in the sand and say ‘Not here,’ are just not being realistic. We definitely have challenges on this campus and we have to be upfront about that.”
Both Whiteside and Begin predict that the amount of incidences being reported will likely increase.
“I think we’re going to see an increase in reporting and be able to support more people and not have people having to deal with this by themselves,” said Begin.
“For me, that’s a positive sign,” said Whiteside. “People get nervous that our numbers are up, but I go, ‘No, that means it’s starting to work.’”
Although reported numbers of incidences may go up, the provincial and campus shifts toward recognizing sexual violence aim to provide more prevention, protection, and support for the community.
Photos by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion