As post-secondary institutions re-open their doors for in-person classes for the first time since March 2020, the province is focusing it’s attention toward on-campus sexual violence prevention measures and education.
According to the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training, nearly two-thirds of sexual assaults occur on campus during the first eight weeks of school.
This Fall, the province is relaunching their “…Is Not Yes” campaign, a sexual violence prevention measure to increase awareness and available supports for post-secondary students.
“Sexual violence has no place on our campuses,” said Anne Kang, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training. “Understanding consent is one of the first steps to preventing sexual violence because only ‘yes’ means ‘yes’.”
The campaign will build on the 2019/2020 campaign, hoping to reach more students through a larger online presence as well as being able to return for on-campus education this Fall.
Digital advertisements for the campaign are scheduled to run on major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat and will run in popular student destinations such as on campus restaurants and bars.
Digital advertisements will also run in multiple languages to further the campaign’s reach and message.
Shareable campaign materials will be distributed to both student organizations and university faculty to be disbursed to the general student population.
“Education and awareness are essential to creating cultures of consent at our institutions,” said Anna-Elaine Rempel, a University of Victoria student and advocate,
“Everyone has a responsibility to address and prevent sexualized violence, and that means being informed, actively challenging systems and beliefs that uphold gendered and sexualized violence, and ensuring that all campus community members have the tools and resources they need to support survivors.”
The ‘…Is Not Yes” campaign launches today, September 8th and will run through October.
