Status of Women Committee on Oct. 31st, 2016

[Harvey Bate]

Not at New Leaf, no. We don't.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

There's no program along those lines.

[Harvey Bate]

There are places and times to do that. Maybe it could be in child welfare and stuff like that, but not really in New Leaf.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay. In your estimation, what would you say is the number one thing that motivates men to turn to you to ask for help?

[Cathy Grant]

It's the the children.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Expand on that.

[Cathy Grant]

Generally speaking, they recognize that they're doing wrong by their kids. They're struggling with that. Even if it's the two-year-old who looked at them in fearfulness the night of the incident, or whenever he and mommy are hollering at each other again, or whatever, they are starting to realize this is not what they want for their kids.

We've all been kids, so they can identify with that and feel empathy right away. Often through working through some of that, we can help him to feel empathy for his partner. I find children are probably the number one motivator for men to come to our program and really try to get it.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

That's good.

[Harvey Bate]

We said many of these men are under 25, but they are fathers. A lot of them are fathers.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Yes, okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I want to say thank you so much. What a great addition this is to the study we've been doing. This a new angle, new information for us about how to start to educate men and come at this in a different way. Thank you so much for your testimony.

We are going to suspend now so that we can change the panel, but thank you very much for being with us today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We are resuming the meeting.

We are hearing from the representatives of two organizations. First, I want to welcome Liette Roussel and Jenny Pinet from the Collectivité ingénieuse de la péninsule acadienne.

We are also hearing from Sandrine Ricci and Manon Bergeron from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

I also want to welcome you.

You each have 10 minutes for your presentation. We will begin with Ms. Roussel.

[Liette Roussel, Manager Consultant, Collectivité ingénieuse de la Péninsule acadienne]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

The theme addressed by the Collectivité ingénieuse de la péninsule acadienne is the exploration of issues faced by young women and the way to build a more consistent application of effective strategies in universities and colleges to avoid violence against young women on campus. That includes the notion of rape culture and definitions and perceptions of consent.

We will begin with observations and comments on our region, northeastern New Brunswick. A little over 50% of its population of nearly 50,000 people consists of women. We have two campuses—a university campus and a college campus.

In 2011 in New Brunswick, 539 sexual assaults were reported to the police. We know that, on average, 90% of victims choose not to report an assault. So the 539 sexual assaults could easily mean 5,000 assaults in reality.

Let's talk about studies and research projects in the region. Only a few studies have been carried out on violence against women in the region. Those initiatives focused primarily on defining the issue and on identifying existing services. Most of these projects were conducted 10 to 15 years ago, so an update is clearly needed.

Social media are the preferred means of communication for young people today. Therefore, they are also the bait of choice for sex offenders. Social media must be treated as vehicles for risk and vehicles for proactively fighting against violence.

Services are available for female victims of sexual violence on the Acadian peninsula. Their cases are handled in the general scope of family and domestic violence.

According to a regional study, a significant number of youth exchange sex for services. We should determine what the relationship between that phenomenon and the use of social media is, and what impact social media have on assaults.

According to organizations that work with female victims of violence in the region, young women are a unique group of victims because they are in the early stages of adulthood and are living their first life experiences outside the family unit. So an effective and efficient strategy should be developed for that group of individuals. The same goes for young men who are at a high risk of being abusers.

There seems to be a discrepancy between the opinions of first responders and those of people interviewed on campuses with regard to the level of satisfaction with the availability of initiatives to combat violence against women.

When it comes to observations and comments on our two campuses, the extent of violence against women on the two campuses seems to be unknown. That lack of awareness is attributed to failure to report. Observations and comments on violence against women seemed to focus on silence and failure to report. The opinion seems to be that silence and failure to report are disquieting signs in the fight against violence.

Regarding awareness-raising, both campuses are adopting measures as part of information sessions on issues such as policy and regulations on sexual harassment and gender-based harassment. That is taking place on both campuses.

However, there is a surprising difference in the frequency of policy revision, which seems to happen more often on the college campus, where it is done annually. On the university campus, policy has apparently not been revised in several years, and that shows a clear lack of pooling of efforts when it comes to making strategies consistent across the campuses.

Regarding statistics on sexual violence cases, university officials represent their institution in initiatives related to violence against women. For example, awareness walks are organized.

However, the data received by campus administration regarding acts of violence on the ground are not shared with those representatives. So a data release protocol should be established.

There is no cooperation or collaboration between the two campuses with respect to violence against women.

The campus stakeholders that were interviewed do not know of any clear and concise strategies on the part of governments to address violence against young women, particularly as regards the notion of “rape culture” and definitions and perceptions of “consent”. Coordination is needed in that regard.

How can we define rape culture and the notion of consent? The notion of rape culture is not addressed on the campuses. The perception of consent is currently the focus of a Université de Moncton study, and the campus in our region is participating. However, the college campus is not participating in that research.

Here is a list of our recommendations:

First, the federal government should implement a mechanism to coordinate measures to address violence against women, to ensure greater uniformity and to share the strategies proposed by various provincial and regional authorities, and university and college communities should play an integral role.

Second, the federal government should implement a mechanism to urge the provinces to coordinate regional actions to address women's feeling of guilt and the fact that they are “involuntarily protecting” their abusers from consequences by not reporting assaults.

Third, the federal government should urge social media platforms to become partners in its efforts to address violence against women.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Thank you very much.

We give the floor to Ms. Ricci and Ms. Bergeron.

You also have 10 minutes.

[Dr. Manon Bergeron, Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, Senior Researcher, Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual]

Thank you.

We want to begin by thanking the committee for inviting us to this meeting to discuss our work and our thoughts following ESSIMU, a study titled “Sexualité, sécurité et interactions en milieu universitaire”—a survey on sexuality, security and interactions in a university setting. The study specifically focused on developing a clear picture of sexual violence in a university setting in Quebec. Today's presentation is an opportunity for us to tell you about the key findings, and the recommendations stemming from this work.

ESSIMU is a recent survey of 9,284 individuals who were studying or working in Quebec universities. Twelve researchers and six universities participated in the study with our community partner, the Regroupement québécois des CALACS. I will share a few of the findings.

Sexual violence in a university setting directly affects a large number of individuals working or studying in Quebec universities. According to our study and the participants, one in three individuals has experienced sexual violence within the university community, since they entered university, and one individual in four has experienced sexual violence over the past year. So acts of sexual violence are still taking place and they are recent.

When it comes to strategies, support services must be accessible and confidential for anyone who wants to use them.

There is another piece of information. According to our research, the typical victim is a female student and the sexual abuser is another student. The study also highlights a number of situations where the victim is a female student, and the abuser is a teacher. This reality must not be overlooked, either, in all these reflections.

The findings indicate that specific groups are also more likely to experience sexual violence in a university setting. More women than men experience sexual violence. Other notable groups are gender minorities and sexual minorities, international students and people with a disability. So we have to meet the needs of those groups and provide support tailored to their reality.

Our study made it possible to see in what context various sexual violence situations have been occurring. First, the vast majority of the situations occurred off the university campus, during social or celebratory events. Second, some of the situations took place during academic activities—so during courses and research internships. It is important to take into account that reality across the various strategies that have been developed. There is a lot of talk about integration activities, or initiations. Of course, sexual assaults may occur during those events, but that is not the case in the majority of situations. Therefore, the strategies must cover all the situations where violence may occur.

Sexual violence in a university setting has a number of consequences. We will not list them all. I think the committee, thanks to its work, has fully grasped the extent of the consequences of sexual violence. In addition, more specifically in a university setting, consequences have to do with young women's academic path. Students interrupt their education owing to situations experienced in a university setting. So some consequences are very specific to universities.

Our study is not only about victims who are directly affected. One person in five has been confided in by someone at the university who experienced sexual violence. Moreover, one individual in seven said to have witnessed some sort of sexual violence within the university community.

We believe that those people have an active role to play in preventing, raising awareness and fighting against sexual violence. The strategies to be implemented must also include them.

Before I yield the floor to my colleague, I will finish by saying that the study unfortunately shows that there is still prejudice. I am talking about prejudice against the victims, mainly, so prejudice that makes victims feel guilty and responsible and, conversely, frees abusers of responsibility for their actions. Strategies must also take into account that prejudice, which is basically hurting the victims.

[Sandrine Ricci, Researcher, Université du Québec à Montréal, Coresearcher Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual]

The findings of our research led us to realize that many victims remain silent, and that is not very surprising. In fact, 85% of those who participated in our online survey said that they never reported the event to their university authorities. That realization, that reality, should be a concern for us. It brings us to ask questions, especially about the sense of mistrust victims of sexual violence in a university setting have toward institutions.

That is why a strategy must focus on the importance of developing legal mechanisms that would force post-secondary institutions to fight against sexual violence in a university setting. Those mechanisms, laws or regulations should really highlight academic institutions' responsibility. In these conditions, those institutions would probably receive more complaints.

Rape culture is also the culture of silence. Quite often, those rare individuals who report their abusers' actions are not kept informed of the nature of penalties imposed on the harassers or abusers. In those circumstances, institutions invoke confidentiality, the need to respect privacy, and so on. However, all that is problematic in many ways.

First, it is problematic in terms of impunity, especially since research shows that abusers are very often repeat offenders. A very concrete problem also arises, as victims can come across their abusers on campus or through their university activities. In fact, sexual violence committed in a university setting is unique, as the victim and the abuser share the same premises. The issue regarding penalties and confidentiality must be a concern for universities, but it must also affect Canadian legislation, in some respects.

I would also like to highlight the need to apply a logic of transparency. When a violent event is reported and dealt with, it seems important to communicate the complaint findings. That is in line with the logic of fighting against impunity. Encouraging reporting and publicly communicating the complaint findings—including the alleged actions and the penalty—would among other things let the victim know that the violent and unjust situation they were subject to was recognized and taken into account by the institution, even the state. It would also reassure the entire university community that every effort would be made to truly eradicate this problem. Finally, probably as a preventive measure, based on that logic of transparency and not the culture of silence, it would have a worthwhile deterrent effect.

As for the issue of under-reporting, university authorities should inform the student body, through all sorts of awareness-raising and training activities, of all the potential ways to report an event. Those would not be only official or legal mechanisms, but also all kinds of other methods that would help take their experience into account and recognize it as an unacceptable problem.

Awareness-raising activities could focus on a variety of other elements, but I guess another issue we could discuss during question period is rape culture.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Thank you.

We will begin the question period. Mr. Serré, you have seven minutes.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank the four witnesses for their presentations and the work they are doing on a daily basis.

My first question is for Ms. Roussel and Ms. Pinet. You talked about some projects, one of which was funded in 2012. Was that project implemented across Canada in other academic institutions? Were the findings of that project communicated to other post-secondary institutions across Canada?

[Liette Roussel]

The Université de Moncton participated in the project. I'm sorry I cannot tell you more about it, as we are both new to the Collectivité ingénieuse. However, I know that the project has not been disseminated across Canada.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

We have heard a number of witnesses talk about their projects. However, no consideration—and this is actually one of your recommendations—seems to be given to how the federal government could coordinate those projects across Canada. It appears that much of the work is being done separately on campuses, in the provinces, and that practices are not shared.

Ms. Roussel, you talked about social media earlier. Do you have any examples to share or recommendations to make when it comes to Facebook and Twitter? We are talking about the major problem social media will cause, but also about the way social media technology could be used to resolve problems and find solutions.

[Liette Roussel]

Broadcasters would commit to disseminating messages on the fight against violence. For example, in the dissemination of certain communications or certain research, a message of awareness-raising with regard to the fight against violence could appear on the screen. Broadcasters would be responsible for disseminating such messages.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Ms. Ricci, from the Université du Québec, do you have any examples of how social media could be used?

[Sandrine Ricci]

When it comes to social media, I believe that many communications experts have looked into this issue.

People are always saying that it is impossible to regulate and control content, and we are seeing that there is some tolerance toward sexist or violent content directed at women.

As for the argument that it's impossible to regulate and control content, we see that some content is extremely well regulated, such as in the cases of nudity or political activities related to interest groups or more radical activists. We see that there really is a way to regulate this kind of content and remove it. Perhaps that could also be considered in light of this reality.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you.

Now I will turn to Ms. Roussel and Ms. Pinet, before coming back to the Université du Québec à Montréal representatives. You spoke at length about victims, and clearly, we have a lot of work to do in that regard. A year ago, we heard from witnesses who talked about outreach services for boys and young men. Could you describe for us the connection you provide and the services you offer to young boys, or young men, in an effort to improve the situation? Are there examples you can give us?

[Liette Roussel]

Here, in New Brunswick, nothing seems to have been done. No activities aimed specifically at young boys have been identified. To my knowledge, there haven't been any.