In 2019, Statistics Canada reported about one in 10 female students who attend Canadian postsecondary schools have been sexually assaulted.
A Guelph-Humber student who had been sexually assaulted said, “I did not look for any help. I didn’t know that help was available, that stuff like this was worth helping. To me this seemed like something I got myself into since I started talking to him, so it was my problem to deal with”.
This student’s response raises many questions.
How could this student have been helped?
How can we eliminate feelings of isolation and helplessness from survivors of sexual assault?
How can we make campuses safer?
These answers might not be simple, but it means there is still work to be done in the education system.
So, what can Canadian institutions do to protect women?
Humber College implemented a progressive sex and consent education program, with a unique approach that offers peer-to-peer support.
The consent peer education program (CPEP) is a resource available to all Humber and Guelph-Humber students.
This program consists of eight consent peer educators (CPE). Their responsibilities include offering support when students ask questions about consent, sex, sexual health and relationships. Allowing students to seek answers to questions they may feel uncomfortable asking, if it were an older adult or parental figure.
Anastasiia Melnikova, a CPE said, “My goal as a consent peer educator is to promote and educate all Humber students about the importance of consent in all types of sexual relationships… In addition, my goal as a consent peer educator is to empower individuals to take ownership of their bodies and boundaries, respect the boundaries of others, and create safe and healthy relationships based on mutual respect and communication. Our final goal is to create a safer and violence-free campus for everyone.”
If students can take one thing away from this program, it is that CPEs are current students here to support Humber and Guelph-Humber’s community.
The CPE’s responsibilities also extend to hosting engaging and educational events such as, “game of life: sex edition” and “consent spooky carnival”.
Consent spooky carnival had a spinning wheel game called “let’s talk about sex baby”, with questions ranging from: What does consent mean? Why is sex education important? What are forms of contraception?
Aside from these holiday events, they play other games like sexy bingo, an emoji spinning wheel game and body painting exercises.
These games reinforce the importance of sex education, self-care and establishing boundaries with sex partners. It also reminds students of the CPEP, introduces the CPEs and refreshes students’ memories of the available resources they have access to.
Most importantly, the program educates students in a fun and friendly way, which helps open the dialogue for students to talk about sex, and reduce the uncomfortability students may feel when they talk about sex.
Chris Mahon, Humber’s sexual violence prevention and education coordinator said, “…we unfortunately do experience that our society really repress our sexual boundaries, it makes us feel like we shouldn’t be able to talk about sex… sex is normal, sex is healthy and whatever sex looks like to someone who’s comfortable with that sex, that is fine.”
University and college students are encouraged to keep asking questions about sex and consent. Students looking to further educate themselves on these topics should take a look at this program.
Furthermore, Mahon describes a program for bystander intervention called, Bringing in the Bystander. It is a two hour training course accompanied by other student clubs like IGNITE. They explain consent, what sexual violence is, sexual violence awareness and how to respond in scenarios where they see sexual violence happening, how to intervene safely or how to bring in extra support.
Other big events Mahon oversees are Take Back the Night and 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
Take Back the Night, is a march women and allies participate in to reclaim the night. For more information about this event students are encouraged to check out the following link. https://humber.ca/student-life/sexual-assault/take-back-the-night
Furthermore, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is held to support and bring awareness to women, Indigenous women, LGBT2SQ+ folks, women with disabilities, and racialized women who have experienced disproportionate levels of violence. Students can find more information about this event here, https://humber.ca/student-life/sexual-assault/16-days-of-activism
On a smaller scale, he also performs workshops. One of the workshops he offers explains disclosure. Students learn how to handle a situation where a friend or classmates discloses they have been sexually violated.
It should be noted that students who experience sexual violence can go to Humber’s CPEP, where they will be emotionally supported and redirected to support systems that can help.