Status of Women Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2016

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Good afternoon. We are very excited today to continue our study of violence against young women and girls.

We have a number of guests with us today. We were to have a video conference with East Prince Women's Information Centre. We have Andy Lou Somers, who is the executive director, and Nancy Beth Guptill, a cyber-violence expert. They don't have video conference working, so we're going to have them on cellphone with a limited battery. No pressure. We'll let them go first for their 10 minutes.

Then, from the CYCC Network we have Lisa Lachance, who is the executive director, and Alicia Raimundo, youth advisory committee co-chair. After we hear from the ladies from East Prince, we will go over to CYCC for 10 minutes.

Andy, welcome, and go ahead for 10 minutes.

[Andy Lou Somers, Executive Director, East Prince Women's Information Centre]

I am just doing the intro, and then Nancy Beth is taking over and doing the rest.

My name is Andy Lou Somers, and I'm the executive director of East Prince Women's Information Centre in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. We are a resource and referral centre that works with women and girls in the central to western part of the province. We do programming that increases women's economic security and community workshops and programs that help girls and women to live healthy lifestyles.

I'm also a mother of six children and a grandmother of nine. I've learned the hard way that living on a small island that is fairly removed from the hustle and bustle of urban areas does not mean that we are not vulnerable, especially when it comes to cyber-violence. I'm beginning to think today that maybe it would be better if we were in an urban area, given the problems that we've had with this.

For the past five years we've been working with schools, youth groups, and service providers doing workshops on social media safety. Doing these workshops opened us up to a new world of scary things happening to our girls in cyberspace. It's terrifying to hear local stories, but the presentations we did opened the door for discussion.

Many of the young girls who heard our workshops and presentations felt safe and trusted us, telling us their stories of what they were experiencing or had experienced. What was shocking was to find out that no one, and I mean no one, seemed to know where to go for help, who to ask for help, or who could do anything about what was happening. There are no school policies or laws in the province regarding cyber-violence.

Many of the girls told us they would never tell their parents things that were happening to them because they were embarrassed and they feared that they would have their phones and computers taken from them. School counsellors and service providers have told us that they had no idea how to help in situations regarding any type of safety on the Internet as they're not trained or educated in how to do that.

Girls and young women were being targeted, and we just thought, how are we ever going to help? It was almost as if Status of Women Canada had read our minds, because they put a call out for proposals on eliminating and preventing cyber-violence against young women and girls, and we were successful in receiving funding to do that. Our project consisted of doing a needs assessment and bringing community partners together to work on a strategy and move that forward.

Nancy Beth Guptill did all the work on the needs assessment, so I'm passing it over to her.

[Nancy Beth Guptill, Cyberviolence Expert, East Prince Women's Information Centre]

Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity for us to share some of our findings of the needs assessment for Prince Edward Island.

In terms of cyber-violence in P.E.I., the findings were very startling to say the least, with youth reporting very high incidences of online violence which, for the most part, they are left to navigate and handle on their own. We found that 79% of youth said that they were victims of cyber-violence and 100% said that they had witnessed acts of cyber-violence and cybersexual violence, with 86% reporting they have unrestricted access to the Internet, social media sites and mobile applications.

Youth are experiencing mild to extreme forms of online violence, all of which are violations of and assaults against them. Unfortunately, online violence has become normalized, as youth believe everyone is abused at one point or another, and that cyber-violence comes with the territory of using the Internet and mobile devices.

Our research clearly indicates that female and male youth are equal victims of cyber-violence, with the exception of cybersexual violence, which is distinct gender violence against women and girls. Without a doubt, cybersexual violence and technology-related violence against women and girls exist in Prince Edward Island. The research reveals that girls are the primary victims of cybersexual violence and are under extreme pressure to share sexual images of themselves with young males their age, as well as with older males from their communities and male strangers they meet online.

Approximately 25% of the female youth said they were victims of cybersexual violence. Their experiences included being inappropriately propositioned for sex, asked to share nude photos or enter into an inappropriate sexual conversation, sexual harassment, sexual bullying, sexual blackmail, sexual exploitation, and more.

None of the male youth reported being a victim of cybersexual violence, while approximately 70% of all youth said they had been a witness to cybersexual violence. Forty-eight per cent of stakeholders reported responding to and supporting youth victims of cyber-violence, with 75% of incidents involving some form of cybersexual violence.

In our five years of doing outreach presentations and two years of intense research, we did not uncover one male victim of cybersexual violence in Prince Edward Island. That is not to say there are no male victims; however, in engaging with over 4,500 people that included youth, parents, interested adults and community stakeholders, we only uncovered female victims of cybersexual violence.

There's an uncomfortable conversation that needs to be had around the new language used by male and female youth to describe male youth who sexually exploit female students. An overwhelming 95% of youth who participated in our research study said girls are definitely more sexually violated, usually by the “eff-boys”, a popular term used to describe the male youth who are at the top of the food chain. I'll leave it to your imagination what “eff-boys” stands for.

During our research phase, 46% of youth discussed this food chain, which is a pecking order that exists within the public school system, ranging from the preps to greasers—that's their language and not ours. It is the preps who commit most acts of cyber-violence and cybersexual violence according to youth, including those youth who self-identify as preps. Acts of social oppression are done to assert their position of dominance and influence, with the purpose of intimidating others so they do not become the victims, but rather are looked up to and feared by their peers.

Youth describe “eff-boys” as male students at the top of this food chain. They're characterized as the male preps who are top-tier athletes, come from rich families, are favoured by teachers, are spoiled by parents, and are entitled. They are further characterized by female youth as being oversexed males who are disrespectful towards women and girls, and pressure females into sexual conversations, sexual encounters, and sending sexts. They have no boundaries and no limits, speak very degradingly of women and girls, and treat women within their own families very poorly. They tend to feed their “eff-boy” tendencies by pressuring girls for nudes and sex.

Once they receive the nude, they then blackmail girls to obtain more images, to have sex with them and their friends, and to hang out with them at parties. The consequence of not obliging is a threat of releasing and sharing the nudes with the entire school population and character assassination.

These men have locked photo albums on their phones with hundreds of nude and near-nude images of female classmates. They're viewing and swapping these images on their way to school, at lunch hour, and on breaks.

Some of the “eff-boys” terrorize other male students who do not pressure girls for nudes. They call them names and spread derogatory sexual rumours about them. Many youth feel pressured to sit in and want to avoid being abused themselves. They feel like they have to participate in sexting and pressuring girls for nudes, otherwise they'll be sexually harassed by being labelled a fag or a pussy.

A few male youths said they lost friendships and social networks because they would not participate in pressuring girls for nudes, and for telling male classmates to stop sending them images of naked female classmates. These young men left sexually aggressive male social networks because they were abused so badly by classmates. Additionally, they did not want to be associated with this type of sexually aggressive behaviour. According to them, if you're associated with the “eff-boys”, you're stereotyped to be one whether you are one or not.

Youth have a lot to share on this topic, and often the conversation returned to the subject of sexual exploitation of girls and the pressure that both male and female students are under to participate. It was very evident to us that youth are struggling with how to manage and navigate this new phenomenon that is a very real problem for both genders.

Another uncomfortable conversation that we need to have centres around many female students proactively participating in porn culture. They are willing to produce and distribute intimate photos of themselves for control and popularity. There are girls who have text and email distribution lists of fellow male classmates, and they send out nude pictures of themselves on certain days—

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I'm really sorry, you're at the end of your time.

If you could just quickly wrap up, I'll give you another 20 seconds.

[Nancy Beth Guptill]

Okay.

What we discovered in the research, then, is that ultimately for best practices, there is a yearning for more education and public awareness. The youth are desperately looking for strategies and adult mentorship in how to deal with cyber-violence themselves.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Excellent.

Thanks very much.

[Nancy Beth Guptill]

We're not in an ideal situation here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I really appreciate your participating and working with us through the cellphone stuff. You came through great.

We're going now to the CYCC Network with Lisa Lachance.

You can begin your 10 minutes that you're sharing with Alicia.

[Lisa Lachance, Executive Director, CYCC Network]

Great. Thank you so much.

Honourable members, fellow presenters, and parliamentary staff, thank you so much for welcoming us today. On behalf of the Children and Youth in Challenging Contexts Network, we'd like to highlight the particular challenges faced by vulnerable young women in Canada with regard to facing violence, cyber-violence, and supporting their mental health, and also illustrate the realities faced by informal community-based services that are often on the front lines of providing services to marginalized young women.

With regard to the CYCC Network, we're a knowledge mobilization network funded through the federal government through the Networks of Centres of Excellence. We're based at Dalhousie University in Halifax. We focus on finding the best practices to support the mental health and well-being of the most vulnerable young people. We connect researchers, service providers, policy officials, and young people themselves in conversations about what works, and we promote the increased use of evidence and evaluation in the sector.

We are concerned about young people who have complex needs that span multiple service providers, such as special education, mental health services, juvenile detention, child welfare, and others. We have had a particular focus on girls and boys, young women and men who have been exposed to violence or who perpetuate violence. We approach our work with a strong commitment to youth engagement as a philosophy, a principle, and a series of concrete actions. We also seek to support the positive uses of technology in young people's lives.

I'd like to start by highlighting a few of the promising practices we consider important for the discussion today. When we looked at the mental health help-seeking behaviour of vulnerable young people, we recognized the role of stigma and self-stigma that often prevents young people from seeking mental health help. Young women experiencing cyber-violence would be at risk for increased feelings of stigma because of the pressure to be active online, as well as the disconnect from this youth reality and—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

On a point of order, Madam Chair, I think the interpreters are having a problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

They're having trouble with your mike. They're wondering if there's a cellphone close to it or anything.

[Lisa Lachance]

I actually don't have mine on me.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

You can change the mike, and it might help.

[Lisa Lachance]

Just to summarize the last point, we looked at how vulnerable young people seek help for their mental health. Really, stigma and self-stigma continue to be strong barriers. We feel that young women exposed to or experiencing cyber-violence would have increased feelings of self-stigma and stigma in terms of seeking help for that issue.

We're just beginning to understand the experience and effects of cyber-violence. Mental health professionals, however, are coming face to face with the effects of this in their work with young people. To make sure clinical practice is rooted in each experience, there should be support for researchers and professional bodies to continue to develop their understanding of the clinical implications of cyber-violence, and to develop practice guidelines regarding this issue.

Young women who have experienced violence and cyber-violence need access to both evidence-based debriefing techniques as well as ongoing therapy, but they rarely have access to what they need. There is an urgent need for access to mental health services for all Canadians in a mental health crisis. This is a story that anyone can tell if they've tried to access mental health services.

Public services are limited, wait times are extraordinary, and private services are expensive and limited as well. For vulnerable young people, mending without a primary consistent caregiver, the challenge of accessing services often means going without.

I'm a mental health advocate, and I've also worked for decades in government at the provincial and federal levels.

I'm also the parent of a child with significant mental health needs, and I fight every day of the week to access the services that he needs. I often wonder what happens to young people who don't have that person who can play that role in their life. That's the case for many of the people we think of in our network, so we can all imagine that they slip through the cracks. They're not getting the mental health services they need.

We also want to highlight to the committee the challenge to think beyond schools for education about cyber-bullying and violence. The participants before us also spoke to that need as well. For many young people, school-based education and programs are a great start. They will reach the majority of young people, and we would emphasize they need to be youth-led to be most effective.

For vulnerable young people, they often have a tenuous connection to the formal health school system or aren't in school at all, so community-based services play a more crucial role in their lives. They provide everything from shelter, food, housing, to programs like drop-in support, peer support, and art and recreation therapies. Imagine what you would need to know, or how you would react if you have 15 minutes with a young person at a drop-in group setting. There's no guarantee they're coming back the next day or the next week, and they disclose their experiences with cyber-violence to you.

How can you respond? How can you respond in a way that supports a young person and their mental health, but at the same time against a backdrop of the young person being concerned about housing, food, access to employment, and access to education?

This is what we ask the youth workers to do on a daily basis. Youth workers often have a privileged and trusted position with vulnerable young people, and will receive disclosures of violence and cyber-violence, but often have little recourse to respond or don't know how to respond. At the same time, organizations that provide those types of services often have their own policies that would penalize young people if they were found to be perpetrators of cyber-violence. Obviously, what would work better in the first place would be to prevent cyber-violence for these types of situations.

We had a look with our members in terms of what types of programs they offer in terms of prevention in addressing cyber-violence. Although we haven't been able to do an exhaustive review, it seems that most of the time it's on an ad-hoc basis, so most organizations don't have their own in-house programs, and they seek the support of other organizations who have programs and bring them in.

As we think about this issue in Canada, we need to think about how to address the most vulnerable young people where they're at, which is often with community-based services, and how we can support community organizations to have the resources they need to address the issue.

We aren't justice experts, but we would like to raise some of our concerns in conversations around sanctioning unacceptable sexual online behaviour. Some cyber-bullying and violence policies have the potential to drive the behaviour underground. The previous participants noted that youth are reluctant to or won't report problems, because they feel they've been in violation of a cyber-bullying or cyber-violence policy, or their concerned about losing their access online.

We're also concerned about vulnerable young people, such as racialized young people, and their connection with the education and justice system.

A final plea is from our researchers in our network for adequate funding to continue to gather information about this trend, so that we can respond with appropriate policies and programs.

I'd like to turn it to Alicia now.

[Alicia Raimundo, Youth Advisory Committee Co-Chair, Youth Advisory Committee, CYCC Network]

I am a youth mental health advocate, and I try to make my change in mental health through the tech system.

I want to tell you my story. As a young kid, after I tried to take my own life, I received the majority of my support online. I didn't have trusted adults in my community who I felt I could talk to. I'm not alone. Kids Help Phone did a study that said 55% of suicidal young people are reaching out for support online and through social media.

When you consider that many of the evidence-based online services have really restricted hours or are not connecting to peer support, and young people are usually in unrestricted, unsupportive environments, you can see where cyber-violence might come into this.

As a young person, I have experienced cyber-violence myself. In one case, a single tweet led to 1,000 angry responses, including 100 death threats and three attempts to “dox” me. Doxing is the practice of releasing online the personal information on someone, including pictures, social insurance number, and home address, because you don't like what the person said. The attacks are commonly used online against women for opposing sexism, for turning down sexual advances, or for simply being women. In one case, a man used this information to drive to my friend's house with guns in the back of his car. He crashed his car and was stopped. Even after this, the best advice the police could give to this woman was to get off the Internet.

For many, living a life without social media would isolate them and affect their business and job prospects. Suggesting to someone that they should leave the Internet is punishing the victim and rewarding the perpetrator. Young women do not find the current laws and police helpful in these cases. The only suggestion was for them to leave the Internet, so they've been advocating directly with social media sites and have created their own protection networks and peer support groups for those who've been attacked online.

Many women experience cyber-violence beyond sexual violence, including the loss of their jobs as their attackers are relentless in calling their workplaces, tweeting, and showing up to get the person fired. In my case, my whole online history of posts was mailed to my employer, because I rejected someone's advances.

Cyber-violence prevention programs and education are often focused on what women and girls can do to protect themselves. This is not enough. We need to educate the boys and men to stop thinking that this kind of violence is just a funny joke. This is not a game. We need programs and campaigns aimed at men and boys instead of at women.

As in my case, when you're able to sit down with someone who is trying to troll you online and show them that you're a person, it can make a world of difference.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

That was excellent. Thank you very much.

We're going to begin our seven-minute rounds of questioning, starting with Mr. Fraser, my Liberal colleague.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I'm pleased to see that we have some east coast representation. I'm from Nova Scotia. I'm a Dalhousie graduate, and I spent a few summers at the College of Piping in Summerside as well. Thanks very much for being here and for your evidence.

I'll start with East Prince Women's Information Centre. Right now, I'm hearing lots of evidence that is similar to what we've heard in previous testimony about indicating that there are problems.

I'm curious about what you see, particularly in the context of a small community. Has your program led to any sort of new solutions? You discussed a need for education. Have you seen, for example, a reduction in cyber-violence or violence against women or extended support for survivors of cyber-violence as a result of your programming?

[Andy Lou Somers]

We've found that especially girls are more comfortable coming to someone to get help, whereas before, they were too fearful or embarrassed to do it.

It's hard to judge whether it has helped much, because there seem to be a lot more coming forward. It's just a question of where we can find the solutions to help them get through their problems, because there's really been nothing done since we started this project. We've discovered that there are absolutely no policies in the schools, and the police are telling us they need more nuts and bolts. We've met with the ministers of justice, and they're not doing anything about it until they see, for instance, what new policies Nova Scotia is going to put in place.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Do the participants report to you guys that the program has helped them as they've struggled through the experiences they've had?

[Nancy Beth Guptill]

We can report to you that we get quite a number of phone calls from the schools or other youth-serving organizations when they're facing some form of cyber-violence. It tends to be some form of cybersexual violence against a young female. They bring in an outside expert to address the youth. It's usually me who goes in. They find that after we go in and do the presentation, yes, they are seeing the situation being corrected.

As an example of that, we had a girl in grade 6 who was questioning her sexuality. On Instagram about four or five accounts popped up that were slandering her and causing a lot of damage. We were brought in to talk about digital leadership, digital literacy, and the importance of being a good cyber-citizen. All the accounts were shut down after that. The youth was able to recover her reputation and go on and do well.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

So at the very least, there's some great anecdotal evidence from the perspective of victims.

Shifting gears, I was particularly interested, Ms. Raimundo, in your mention at the end of your comments that we need to launch campaigns to educate men and boys to be part of the solution. I think everybody we've spoken with who has considered this realizes that this is not just a woman's problem, that this is society's problem, and everybody needs to take part.

Do you have any suggestions, either of you, on how a campaign would be most effectively designed?

[Alicia Raimundo]

I think this is one of those cases where a lot of the guys who will kind of get into the groupthink that it's hilarious to harass these women need to be connected, face to face, I think, with some of the women who've been victims of these things in order to see the real harm they're causing. When it's a username and a picture and you don't actually know the person you're causing harm to, it can be really easy to forget that you're causing that harm.

There are some really touching stories of that. One young woman's troll was pretending to be her deceased father online. She called him and talked to him. I think the crushing reality of what he was doing hit him.

That's one example of what to do in more and more cases—to show that it's not funny, that it's not a game.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Do you have anything to add, Ms. Lachance?

[Lisa Lachance]

I think the main point I would add is that one of the things I've learned through this network and through working with Alicia and other mental health advocates is the need for youth to be leading a lot of these initiatives and to be part of the creation. If I have learned anything, it's that although I consider myself quite astute online, I actually can't keep up with where young people are. We need to co-create with young people.

I think that where it's going to happen is going to keep on changing. We need to have young people involved in everything from prevention to helping schools talk about what the appropriate responses would be in their school community. I think it also serves to empower young people to take back the issue themselves.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I think I have about a minute left, so first I'll go back to East Prince, and then I'll open this up to both of you.

It seems the importance of the initiatives being community-led can't be overstated. Is it that the needs are so local? Is that why we need to be focusing on community-based initiatives rather than on a grand strategy from Ottawa?