Ninu Kang, executive director, Ending Violence Association of BC –

“We are thrilled to see that the feedback from our community-based anti-violence sector is reflected in the proposed sexual-violence policy act. We are encouraged to see that the Post-Secondary Sexual Violence Action Plan with its five strategic priorities will be launched alongside the act to assist post-secondary institutions with the tools and resources they need to better support survivors of sexual violence.”

Ophelia Kehila, manager, Alma Mater Society (AMS, UBC) Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC)  –

“Through our work at the Sexual Assault Support Centre, the AMS Student Union continues to be deeply dedicated to advocating for improvements within the university system to better support survivors. We recognize the ministry’s efforts to strengthen policies, enhance consultation, and increase accountability as critical steps toward meeting survivors’ needs. The SASC is hopeful that continued policy and institutional improvements will lead to stronger, more accessible resources for students and survivors.”

C.J. Rowe, interim senior director, student affairs (well-being), Simon Fraser University –

“Ending sexual violence on campus takes concrete sustainable action from all levels of government, post-secondary institutions and community partners. It includes the creation of legislation that addresses and prevents harm and concrete action plans developed in consultation with staff, faculty and students who will be the most impacted by this work. The proposed new act and actions outlined in the Province’s action plan will go a long way to support students, staff and faculty who learn, teach, work and live in the post-secondary environment.”

Leah Shumka, director, human rights, equity and human rights, University of Victoria –

“The proposed Sexual Violence Action Plan demonstrates that the ministry is committed to addressing sexualized violence in post-secondary institutions (PSIs) across the province in a more robust manner and is responsive to the voices of students and institutional partners. In this plan, they are raising the bar of expectations for prevention and response efforts, as well as for policy revision and annual reporting, which is important. We look forward to seeing the next steps in this plan, particularly regarding how the ministry will support PSIs, especially those that are smaller and more remote, in meeting these expectations.”

• The proposed sexual-violence policy act will replace the Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act.
• All public post-secondary institutions in B.C. are required to:
  • establish and update their own sexual-violence policy;
  • provide an annual report to their board on the implementation of the policy;
  • review their policy at least once every three years to ensure it remains effective and relevant.
• Under the proposed new legislation, these requirements will remain in place. The proposed legislative changes aim to close gaps and improve responses and prevention of sexual violence in the public post-secondary sector, including:
  • expanding policy scope beyond students to include faculty, employees, contractors, volunteers and board members;
  • establishing clear objectives that institutions must pursue in their policies to promote prevention, and a culture of consent and accountability;
  • enhancing consultation and transparency by strengthening requirements for consultation during policy reviews, and improving transparency and accountability through more robust annual reporting requirements, including making the annual reports publicly available;
  • providing institutions with express authority to share information about interim measures and case outcomes with survivors;
  • establishing consistent standards provincewide and expanding government’s regulation-making authority to help ensure sexual-violence policies are consistent and reflect best practices across all B.C. public post-secondary institutions.

Post-Secondary Sexual Violence Action Plan

The action plan outlines 12 key actions under five strategic priorities:

• lifting up Indigenous approaches;
• increasing prevention through awareness and training;
• improving post-secondary responses to sexual violence;
• improving data collection and reporting on sexual violence; and
• strengthening privacy and confidentiality.

Below is a summary of actions:

1. Work with Indigenous partners to provide an intersectional sexual violence training resource for post-secondary institutions that is responsive to the needs of Indigenous students and supports reconciliation as part of the post-secondary sector’s prevention and awareness initiatives.
2. Set standards for public post-secondary institutions so that:
   • institutions’ sexual violence policies are responsive to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Calls to Justice, and the Calls to Action; and
   • institutions consult with First Nations, Métis and Inuit students and partners as part of their three-year policy review cycle.
3. Provide intersectional training resources for the post-secondary sector that are responsive to the needs of international and graduate students and provide training on technology-facilitated sexual violence.
4. Establish requirements on education and training for institutions to proactively respond to sexual violence.
5. Support improvements to post-secondary institutions’ investigative processes into formal allegations of sexual violence by developing:
   • guidelines for conducting trauma-informed and survivor-centred sexual violence investigations, including appropriate options for sharing information on case outcomes with survivors,
   • a roster of investigators who are trained to conduct trauma-informed investigations into formal allegations of sexual violence, and
   • guidelines on the use of accountability measures, including non-adjudicative measures, and appropriate options for sharing information on sanctions with survivors.
6. Develop options to establish consistent policy standards and support public post-secondary institutions to:
   • establish an institutional advisory committee with an appropriate level of student representation; and
   • be timely and transparent in their communications to survivors about the status of investigations.
7. Align ministry policies and standards on sexual-violence prevention and response for public and private post-secondary institutions.
8. Release a “toolkit” to guide public post-secondary institutions in preparing and distributing their institution’s annual report.
9. Develop policy standards for public post-secondary institutions to publish a more comprehensive annual report beyond policy implementation.
10. Create a schedule for future iterations of the Student Perceptions of Sexual Violence Survey and publish reports summarizing the results from future surveys.
11. Develop standards for public post-secondary institutions on confidentiality in cases of sexual violence.
12. Develop guidance for post-secondary institutions on the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of sexual and gender-based violence.

For details on the progress of the actions, refer to page 24 to page 26 of the action plan: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/post-secondary-education/sexual_violence_prevention_action_plan.pdf