Sexual violence prevention training now mandatory for P.E.I. post-secondary students
Expert says about 71% of students say they’ve experienced or seen unwanted behaviour
Post-secondary students on Prince Edward Island will now need to complete mandatory courses on preventing sexual violence on campus.
"We wanted to give students at UPEI the skills to recognize and respond to sexual violence when they witness it or when they experience it and how to get help," Candice Perry, the Charlottetown school's sexual violence prevention and response manager, told Louise Martin of CBC News: Compass during a recent interview.
The course is mandatory for all first-year students, and will be a graduation requirement by the time this class makes its way through the university.
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About 71 per cent of Canadian students surveyed have said they've experienced or witnessed unwanted sexualized behaviour both on and off campus, Perry said.
"It's pretty widespread — not only on post-secondary campuses, but within our society, unfortunately."
The course has five parts: on consent, consent at work, recognizing sexualized violence, interrupting harm, and responding to a disclosure of improper behaviour.
It also guides students through grounding techniques to use if the content is difficult or triggering, and gives information about where to go for help.
The online segments take about one to two hours and don't have to be completed all at once.
Understanding what consent actually means
Perry hopes students come away from the course with a good understanding of how to help survivors, and knowing what "affirmative consent" means.
"Back when I was younger and going to university, the message was 'no means no,'" she said. "Affirmative consent means anything less than an enthusiastic 'yes' is a no."
Because students come to university with varied life experiences, the course sets uniform expectations of what is and isn't acceptable, she said.
Jenny Ferrara, a third-year student at the Atlantic Veterinary College, said the course "couldn't hurt" but wonders if it will actually change bad behaviour.
"Everyone is kind of aware of sexual violence. Everyone is aware it is not OK. Everyone knows the terms of consent. We are all taught them," Ferrara said. "For people to just get another reminder doesn't necessarily mean that they will change their actions."
But first-year student Regan McLean said it's never too late for students to learn.
"In any level of education, people should be learning about it," said McLean.
Delphina Morgan, a fourth-year English major, said the course is necessary but comes too late. As an international student, she said not everyone knows Canadian law and its definition of consent.
"You get people that are, like, coercively trying to bug people into saying yes to their demands, and they just don't know that no is no," said Morgan.
Holland College staff taking course too
A similar course at Holland College is mandatory for all students, not just first-year ones. Staff will be taking it too, to know what to do if students approach them with complaints.
Murray MacInnis is the director of student well-being, accessibility, and student support for the college, which has sites across Prince Edward Island.
He said the course provides important information for students — many of whom are away from home, and the people who support them there, for the first time.
"They're struggling sometimes to know how to navigate intimate relationships," MacInnis said, pointing out that online information isn't always accurate or based in reality.
Lauren MacKay, a dental assisting student at the college, said the course tackles issues not talked about in public school.
"They never really focused on consent," said MacKay. "Even in health class, it was more mental health and sexual health rather than consent between two people."
We can teach the younger generation.— Lauren MacKay
On a campus with students from other parts of Canada and from around the world, she said it's good to get everyone on the same page.
"Now that we're learning about it, we can teach the younger generation about it."
Issues worse as semesters start, says expert
Holland College and UPEI are not alone in making such courses mandatory. In Quebec, all post-secondary institutions must have a sexual assault resource centre, a standalone sexual violence policy, and mandatory training for students and staff.
Jennifer Drummond, manager of the Sexual Assault Resource Centre at Concordia University in Montreal, helped develop "It Takes All of Us" — the course Holland College is using after adapting it for a local audience.
Drummond initially held in-person workshops at Concordia, but as demand grew she partnered with an E-learning company and put her lessons into an online format.
The course uses fictional scenarios to get its points across. One involves a party where someone is using alcohol or drugs to take advantage of another person. Participants are taught how to intervene and avoid being a bystander, said Drummond.
"I hope that it makes the community safer and creates an environment where people don't tolerate this kind of behaviour, and they can take care of each other."
She feels courses like this should be mandatory at post-secondary schools across the country, especially at the beginning of semesters when partying and substance use peak: "That has a huge impact on the rates of sexual violence occurring."
People care about this issue and they like to know how they can help.— Jennifer Drummond
When such courses are optional, Drummond said, the people who attend them already want to prevent violence.
"Making it mandatory means we're getting everyone, [including] people who might be behaving in a way that is inappropriate or be holding very misogynistic or sexist perspectives, who really do need this information and don't have it."
Since it launched in 2019, feedback on her course has been overwhelmingly positive, she said.
"I think people like to have these tools and information. People care about this issue and they like to know how they can help."
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With files from Compass