Status of Women committee  What I would hope for is collaboration among students, labour unions, and administration. I just came from a meeting on Carleton's campus about our own sexual violence policy, and it's certainly something we're advocating on our campus. I think the will is there at a lot of other

Status of Women committee  I really appreciate that question. I think universities have two choices. One is to be reactive, and that is what most universities do now. Most of you are familiar with what happened on Carleton's campus a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to swear in this room or

Status of Women committee  I could add something more apropos physical threats and death threats online for public positions I've taken on sexual violence. That is absolutely accurate. To speak quickly to how early we can start, it's from birth. My children are in the CPE system in Quebec, and they are ta

Status of Women committee  In terms of evidence, the three universities we studied all told us that there was no problem with sexual violence on their campuses. Carleton, my own university, told me that there hadn't been a sexual assault since the quite infamous sexual assault in 2007, which is patently wr

Status of Women committee  One thing that I would really like to see us test out in Canada, which has been tried on campuses in the United States, is anonymous reporting mechanisms. There is software available now that allows students to just simply go online, and from their dorm room, they can explain t

Status of Women committee  I'll just backtrack and clarify. It's not that I dislike the term “rape culture”; I just feel that it has become a distraction right now. That's why I say I'm agnostic about it. We can use it if it's useful, but I don't want that term to become the debate. I want the debate to st

Status of Women committee  As I said in my brief, the study we did was the first study to be done in 10 years. It's the only study to actually qualitatively take information from...it was only three campuses, so it's a small start to addressing a much bigger problem, but what we need to do is accurately ca

Status of Women committee  Our study didn't really focus on pornography, so I'm not sure that I'm really well positioned to comment. I think the point that my colleague has made about objectification more generally is very well taken, but I don't think that pornography is the single thing we can point to.

Status of Women committee  I've laid out some recommendations in the brief that has circulated. I'm not sure if you've had an opportunity to review it. It's difficult, because you're crossing legislative boundaries between provinces and the federal government. As for what falls under the purview of the fe

Status of Women committee  I think police need to be better educated about the circumstances of women who have experienced sexual violence. There are some very basic things: being given a comfortable room, a private space, in which to give statements; being able to choose the gender of the investigator; be

Status of Women committee  Yes, and that is specifically in Ontario. I'm sorry, but I'm going to answer your question in English; my French isn't up to snuff. We know that policing services in Ontario specifically have what we call “unfounded” rates that are alarming. We're in Ottawa right now; the Ottaw

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Thank you for inviting me to speak to you this afternoon. Sexual assault in Canada is an issue of great concern to me. I hope that our government will take this opportunity to improve the lives of women. You've received my brief, so I will get dire