Evidence of meeting #30 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Marc Serré Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
At the Université du Québec à Montréal, do you have any strategies or examples of activities for boys or young men at the post-secondary level, anything you can share with the members of the committee?
Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, Senior Researcher, Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
In this case, we are talking about the college and university setting. I think, however, we need to keep in mind the importance of introducing education about sexuality and the development of equal relationships as early as elementary school. That may fall outside the committee's current mandate, but I think we need to bear in mind the importance of starting early and exposing students to sexual education that revolves around the core value of equality. That is the first thing I will say.
The second thing is that, given the results of the study, there is no doubt that everyone has to be involved in the solution. Strategies must target multiple levels. That means strategies geared directly towards victims, as well as strategies geared towards the whole community. That includes men and women, and an outreach process.
We know that unique approaches exist in that regard, such as those involving bystanders. We will also be exploring the extent to which these programs, in place in the rest of Canada and in the United States, lead to successful outcomes or constitute promising practices. We are now at the stage of examining what is being done elsewhere. It is clear that solutions involve both men and women.
Conservative
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you very much.
Thank you to the witnesses for being with us today. We certainly appreciate you taking the time to add your expertise to the table.
My first question is for Madam Roussel.
One of the things that you brought up was the exchange of sex for services. Can you explain that a little bit more? One of the things that I'm particularly interested in is how these young women are targeted or found in terms of offering sex for service. Are they being pursued, or are they just putting the offer out there? What does that look like? Can you explain this epidemic to me a little bit?
Manager Consultant, Collectivité ingénieuse de la Péninsule acadienne
The information came to us through a nurse who works with victims of family and domestic violence. She did a study in schools that showed that young students were exchanging sex for services. That was just one of the observations.
We haven't taken an in-depth look at the issue. No other developments on that specific subject have come to my attention. There was no other information on the subject. She did nevertheless tell us that a study had been done in relation to those issues and that, according to the findings, sex in exchange for services was commonplace among young people. It was a practice. It was simply identified as a current practice.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
My next question is for Sandrine.
What are the main factors that are involved in shaping the beliefs and views that men or young men hold towards women?
Researcher, Université du Québec à Montréal, Coresearcher Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
Madam Chair, how much time do I have to answer the question?
Researcher, Université du Québec à Montréal, Coresearcher Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
I'll try to keep it brief. What is at work in society are what we call gender relations—a different term could be used. The sexual violence on university campuses is also a function of that dynamic. It refers to an ideology that is somewhat similar to the rape culture. It is really made up of division-based, hierarchical relations, in other words, unequal relationships between women and men. That also includes those who belong to gender minorities. In short, that kind of socialization exists.
A moment ago, my colleague mentioned the importance of educating children as early as possible on the development of equal relationships. That means educating them not just on sexuality, but also on equality, in particular. It's important to view the other person as another version of one's self. That involves encouraging boys to view women as equals, as other versions of themselves, and not to base their entire vision of the world on gender.
I think that's really critical. Having worked on various issues related to sexual violence in different settings, we see that it always comes down to that. The problem always revolves around equality, around gender relations or the relations between the sexes.
There is the issue, then, of attitude-based socialization. It's important to find a way to prevent the exploitation of that inequality. In addition to that is everything attached to this notion of a rape culture, a hot topic and headline maker. That, too, strikes me as interesting.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
I have to ask the question because you're talking a lot about needing to communicate that men and women are equal. I would certainly agree with you on that, but one of the things that I am giving a lot of attention to right now is the impact of pornography and the fact that most pornography nowadays is produced in an incredibly violent manner. More than ever, it shows the man dominating the woman and it is making violence against women erotic. It is eroticizing it.
I'm interested in hearing your feedback in terms of that observation and the studies that have been done.
Researcher, Université du Québec à Montréal, Coresearcher Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
The issue of pornography certainly falls outside the scope of our participation here today, which focuses on violence in universities. Nevertheless, since the broader scope is the issue of gender equality, we cannot, of course, neglect to comment on sexual exploitation and pornography. Ideological divisions exist around how pornography is viewed. In and of itself, does it constitute violence or not?
I believe you highlighted the problem in terms of representation. There is also a problem tied to the fact that the majority of pornography is becoming increasingly violent. It continues to revolve around masculine sexuality, in other words, a certain dimension associated with virility and performance.
None of that does anything to bring about equal relations or relations where socialization is not based on the division between two categories of humans, men and women. It does not open the door to a range of self-fulfillment possibilities. Consider the tangible impact on self-esteem, for instance. If a female's sexual education comes from watching pornography, which depicts women in a certain way, it will certainly impact us at all levels of society, whether as friends, parents, or otherwise.
Therefore, yes, the problem is tied to sexual violence, in my view.
Conservative
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you so much to all four witnesses for your work. It's good to hear the research that you're doing, and it's a hope to have more support for further research, because we need to learn.
To any of the four witnesses, perhaps you can talk more about your picture for a federal coordinating mechanism to make sure we have the framework to learn from each other and to bring some common understanding of the issue and also common understanding of responses available across the country.
I'm hoping to hear a few more words on that federal coordinating mechanism. I think it was a recommendation of the first witness panel.
Manager Consultant, Collectivité ingénieuse de la Péninsule acadienne
Yes, it's one of our recommendations.
We primarily questioned university stakeholders who were critical of the situation and the huge lack of leadership in terms of bringing together all the responses and concerns in relation to violence against young women. They cited the need for a champion, calling on the federal government to demonstrate leadership that would extend all the way to the regions.
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
This fits also into the call for education, starting very early with children in grade school, to teach them about relationships, gender equality, and what constitutes violence.
Do you have recommendations for the federal government side on how we could influence the imperative of having that sexual violence prevention early on in education?
Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, Senior Researcher, Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
The Quebec government is currently putting in place a sex education pilot project. It sets out mandatory learning that will be deployed to all elementary and high schools beginning in 2017-18. It's not a program in and of itself, but a message first and foremost.
Leadership has to come from the federal government and must extend to every region of the country.
Quebec's program really targets a number of levels: interpersonal relations, sexual violence, and equal relations. It's quite a comprehensive program based on the psychosocial and sexual development of children and adolescents.
I think it's a quality program, and I think the federal government could support the implementation of a similar program all over the country.
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Finally, can you describe further for our committee the experience of disabled women in sexual violence, particularly within the university and college setting? We haven't heard very much about that yet, and we know how prevalent it is and how high our responsibility is to prevent it.
Manager Consultant, Collectivité ingénieuse de la Péninsule acadienne
As far as the Acadian Peninsula is concerned, unfortunately, neither the college nor the university representatives were able to say whether campus victims were women with disabilities.
That information wasn't communicated to them.
I'll let the Université du Montréal à Québec representatives answer.
Researcher, Université du Québec à Montréal, Coresearcher Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
Thank you.
We actually asked those who answered our questionnaire whether they had a disability. It gave us some idea of who the respondents were.
Living with a disability, be it physical or mental, makes individuals more vulnerable, and a number of studies corroborate that. It's an issue that requires serious attention.
It is quite clear that students with disabilities are vulnerable de facto. They project a certain vulnerability that predators can take advantage of. Some individuals try to play on the fact that these women have fewer networks, are less mobile, or have a harder time getting the results they hope for or should receive under the system, for instance.
In our report, we will take a closer look at the research results tied to this problem.
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Have you provided your written report to this committee, and if not, are you able to, because we need to dig into that issue more?
Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, Senior Researcher, Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
The report will be available in December 2016, at which point, we can provide it to anyone who might be interested, including the committee members. That said, I don't know what stage the work will be at come December. I would also point out that other documents will also be coming out over the next year. As part of our study, respondents had the opportunity to write an account of what happened to them, so we have more than 1,700 personal accounts of people's experiences. Other findings the committee may consider helpful will therefore be available in 2017.
Conservative
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank the four witnesses for presenting their research to us.
I am the only member from Quebec here. I represent the riding of Vimy, in Laval, which is home to Collège Montmorency, a Université de Montréal campus, and a Université du Québec à Montréal campus.
Ms. Ricci, can you describe the work of the Réseau québécois en études féministes in sharing research on sexual assault in Canada, and how such research has been used to prevent or respond to sexual assault in communities and on university and college campuses?
Researcher, Université du Québec à Montréal, Coresearcher Enquête ESSIMU, As an Individual
I'd first like to clarify that the Réseau québécois en études féministes, which I am the coordinator of, is a network of researchers. The network provided financial support for our research project, the ESSIMU study. I was the co-researcher, and Manon Bergeron was the senior researcher on the study. I am are here today as a researcher on the ESSIMU study, not so much as a representative of the Réseau québécois en études féministes or its activities. Like the Service aux collectivités de l'UQAM and the Regroupement québécois des CALACS, the network is somewhat of a partner.
Do you need to reformulate your question in light of that clarification?
