OTTAWA, May 8, 2018 – 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 share the need to eradicate sexual violence on their campuses. It includes contributions from the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), Alliance of BC Students (ABCS), the College Student Alliance (CSA), the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), Union étudiante du Québec (UEQ), New Brunswick Student Alliance (NBSA), Students Nova Scotia (StudentsNS), and the University of Prince Edward Island Student Union (UPEISU).
“Sadly, sexual violence occurs on every campus in every province across Canada,” says CASA’s Board Chair, Shifrah Gadamsetti. “That’s why it’s so important we take a collaborative approach on this issue and work together to change campus culture, better protect victims, and ultimately strive to make campus sexual violence a thing of the past.”
This publication identifies challenges and opportunities that exist in individual provinces, but also looks past provincial borders in order to highlight sexual violence as a problem all jurisdictions need to solve. Shared Perspectives provides an understanding of the issues students experience on campuses across our country, and highlights how we must work together to end sexual violence on post-secondary campuses across Canada.
Sexual violence is a systemic problem that affects everyone, 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. Additionally, we know that of all the sexual assaults that take place on post-secondary campuses during the academic year, roughly two-thirds occur within the first 8 weeks of school. Students are a vulnerable group, and this publication illustrates how essential partnership is in combating the current campus reality.
Ms. Gadamsetti continues: “We know that this publication alone won't solve the issue of campus sexual assault, but we hope that it continues to prioritize the conversation among policy makers and post-secondary institutions as we strive to make our campuses safer for all.”
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.
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About CASA:
Established in 1995, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit, national student organization composed of 22 student associations representing 270,000 post-secondary students from coast to coast. Through its partnership with the Quebec Student Union (QSU) and its 8 members representing 79,000 students, CASA presents a national student voice to the federal government. CASA advocates for a Canadian post-secondary education system that is accessible, affordable, innovative, and of the highest quality.
Contact:
Lindsay Boyd, Communications and Public Relations Officer
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 613-236-3457 ext. 224
