Fort Rouge NDP MLA Wab Kinew wants to see province-wide policies in place to make sure all post-secondary institutions in Manitoba are addressing sexual violence and harassment.
Kinew will introduce a private member's bill in the Manitoba Legislature, as early as Wednesday, proposing a new provincial law, which would require all universities and colleges in the province to have the same policies.
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“This is about setting a standard, province-wide,” he said. “We just want to make sure every student is safe and that colleges and universities do undertake programs to raise awareness around sexual violence – that they do make public the incidents that happen on their campuses.”
The NDP Government introduced Bill 3 last year, a similar piece of legislation, which did not pass before this past spring’s provincial election.
Kinew said the content of his private member’s bill is the same.
“I think that most colleges and universities are moving in this direction and what we’re doing is we’re just trying to set a standard framework, so that there’s not inequality across the campuses.”
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Brandon University came under fire in April after a student was forced to sign a behavioural contract when she reported a sexual assault to the school. The contract stipulated she couldn’t speak publicly about the incident.
The behavioural contracts are no longer used by Brandon University.
In May, the school hired a sexual violence, education, and prevention coordinator. Carla Navid said Tuesday a working group of staff, students, and administrators from BU continue to meet weekly to develop a standalone sexual violence policy.
Navid said all schools could benefit from a province-wide policy.
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Laura Garinger, University of Winnipeg Students’ Association vice-president of Student Affairs, said U of W already has protocols in place to address sexual violence and harassment on campus.
U of W recently created a sexual misconduct response team. Trained professionals operate a 24/7 help line, which students can call to report incidents of sexual violence or harassment. Students can also access resources from Klinic Community Health Centre.
Garinger said province-wide policies would be an improvement to the school’s already existing protocols.
“We’d like to see that move towards a standalone policy,” Garinger added. “With a standalone policy it’s easier to administer it and it’s also easier for people to see, the visibility is a lot better with a standalone policy.”
She said more needs to be done to make it easier for survivors of sexual violence or harassment to come forward.
Red River College spokesperson Conor Lloyd said the school hasn’t had any reports of sexual assaults “for the past few years.”
He said the college has policies in place to protect staff from sexual harassment, discrimination and violence.
“Should it occur, Red River College also has processes in place to provide support through its counselling services, or assists with accessing external resources,” Lloyd wrote in an email to CTV News.
