U of R will welcome federal money to deal with sexual violence on campus

New money to deal with sexual violence on post-secondary campuses is good news, according to the woman at the University of Regina whose entire job is to deal with that kind of thing.

On Thursday, the federal minister for women and gender equality, Maryam Monsef, announced a commitment of up to $1.5 million to help post-secondary institutions deal with the problem of sexual violence on campus.

“That’s great news that the federal government is taking this issue seriously,” said Lynn Thera, the U of R’s sexual violence prevention and response co-ordinator.

Thera’s position at the university is relatively new, just created in the summer of 2018 as part of a push to do more on sexual violence. A wide-ranging policy on sexual violence was also released by the university this spring, which Thera had a hand in creating.

She said the university has been doing more on the issue over the past few years.

“The problem is people aren’t talking about it,” she explained. “What we’ve done is we’ve kept it silent for so long that I think people are scared to come forward.”

She said the statistics show about one in four or one in five women experience sexualized violence. As well, most sexual assaults for women happen between the ages of 16 and 24, which is the traditional university age.

Part of what the University of Regina as an institution, and Thera, have been doing is talking to staff and students about sexual violence, the issues and best practices.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the money would be divvied up. The Liberal government’s announcement said the money would be spent over two years and will help fill the gaps in resources that institutions need to deal with sexual violence.

Thera couldn’t be specific on how the University of Regina would spend any money, though she did have some ideas.

“Anytime we can prevent something it would be better,” she said, “so any kind of thing we could do to deepen the prevention side of it, it would be helpful.”

Thera also said the university might deepen the training for those who’ve experienced sexual violence or know someone who has.

Earlier this year, the minister for women and gender equality asked an advisory committee to develop national standards to hold post-secondary institutions to account when it comes to gender-based violence.

Student groups welcomed it but said the promises should be backed up by resources and oversight.

— With files from The Canadian Press