Quebec to spend $54M combatting sexual violence in higher education

Jennifer Drummond opened the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC) at Concordia in 2013, the Montreal university's one-stop shop for victims of sexual violence.

She says she's had to rely on a very small team of only five employees and volunteers to operate.

Now, with Quebec planning to spend $54 million over five years to prevent and counter sexual violence in higher education establishments, she says she hopes the centre will be able to help more people.

" Any kind of additional funding in this area is very needed," she said. "I've been able to see how helpful that is for survivors, to have that one dedicated resource to support them."

The SARC offers counselling, teaches safety measures, organizes academic accommodations and provides accompaniment to internal and external resources. That includes bringing survivors to the hospital, police station and helping them navigate the courts.

"It's really important to have something like that set up and I'm excited to hear that there's this funding that's going to allow this in other locations," said Drummond.

At a news conference Monday, Quebec's minister of higher education, Pascale Déry, said two separate studies indicate that more than one-third of college and university students report have experienced at least one form of sexual violence since they arrived at their institution.

The $54 million over five years represents a $25-million increase over the previous budget.

The lion's share, $37.5 million, will go directly to the establishments, in particular for the implementation of one-stop shops to deal with cases of sexual violence and for the hiring of specialized resources to accompany the victims.

The rest of the funds will go to partners who will use their expertise in the field to serve the establishments, as well as for research on the phenomenon of sexual violence in post-secondary institutions.

Finally, $4 million will be used to improve the safety of certain areas identified as high-risk zones in some establishments.

Déry said she hopes these new measures will improve the situation at Quebec higher education establishments and make their environments safer for everyone.

Students remain skeptical 

Students who have been advocating for better sexual violence policies on campus remain unimpressed with the government's efforts and financing.

But Mya Walmsley, a bargaining officer with the Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia union (TRAC), who uses gender-neutral pronouns, says the money doesn't get to the root of the issue.

"I think the reality is that we can't just keep pumping money into consultations and external bodies. The obvious solution is putting power in the hands of the students," Walmsley said.

And once the money is divvied up among all the CEGEPs, colleges and universities across the province, $25 million doesn't seem impressive, they said.

Margot Berner, a member of the Interorganizational Table on Feminist Affairs, who also uses gender-neutral pronouns, says the money doesn't address students' demands.

Support for survivors is great, but "we need people who have done sexual violence to be accountable for their actions," they said.

Berner says the money should go to grassroots organizations, "the people who are doing the work to combat sexual violence on campus." They say organizations funded by the university can't offer that accountability, and the university itself "is more preoccupied with protecting their reputation."

"It's always been the students who know how to effectively support survivors," Berner said.

Drummond says there are many ways students can get involved — like volunteering at the resource centre.

"Students play a big role in creating the kind of culture that we have here and intervening when they see or hear something that contributes to the culture we don't want," she said.

"I think it's a multi-pronged approach and increased funding helps us do more of what we're already doing."