Province adds $3M in funding for on-campus safety

Thestar.com
March 20, 2019
Kristin Rushowy

The Ontario government is providing $3 million in additional funding to Ontario colleges and universities to combat sexual violence on campus.

Post-secondary Minister Merrilee Fullerton made the announcement Tuesday at Queen’s Park while also releasing the results of an online student survey about harassment, stalking and sexual assault -- results she described as “heartbreaking” and “disturbing.”

MPP Merrilee Fullerton, minister of training, colleges, and universities at Queen's Park in Toronto on Feb. 19, 2019. Fullerton has announced more money to help Ontario colleges and universities combat sexual violence on campus.

Schools “have a responsibility to protect students, and must do everything possible to ensure campuses are free from sexual violence,” Fullerton said, adding the province will double the Women’s Campus Safety Grant to $6 million, to be shared among the province’s 45 publicly funded universities and colleges.

But New Democrat MPP Suze Morrison, her party’s women’s issues critic, said the announcement “falls woefully short of what survivors of sexual assault in this province need,” and the increased grant money will only pay for “for a few cameras on campus.”
Morrison also criticized the Ford government for not properly funding rape crisis centres -- centres that those impacted by sexual violence on campus also rely on
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The sexual violence on campus survey, conducted a year ago by the previous Liberal government, asked for input from post-secondary students about their views on consent, experiences of assault or harassment and how well their school supports survivors.

Fullerton said that all post-secondary institutions will have to set up a task force and also report on a “number of measures related to the experiences of and support for students who have experienced sexual violence.”

The Women’s Campus Safety Grants provide funding for schools to conduct safety audits, hold workshops or purchase safety equipment, among other initiatives.
“No one should have to worry about their safety on campus,” Fullerton said.
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The Ford government has come under criticism from sexual assault service providers as well as opposition MPPs for not providing promised funding to rape crisis centres -- about $12 million over three years that was pledged last March by the Liberals. Last month, Attorney General Caroline Mulroney announce $1 million for the centres for the upcoming fiscal year.

In 2014, a Star series highlighted sexual assault on campus. At that time, only nine nationwide had policies in place.

About 160,000 students volunteered to take part in the online “Student Voices on Sexual Violence” survey.

Of those who took part, almost one-third of university students and almost half of college students reported unwanted sexual harassment.

“The top-line results ... are of great concern and demonstrate that more needs to be done,” said Sandy Welsh of the University of Toronto, who is head of the sexual violence reference group for all Ontario universities.

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance said it is “deeply concerned about the degree to which students experience sexual violence” and demanded the government seek improved data collection and reporting processes, as well as supports, on campuses.

Linda Franklin of Colleges Ontario welcomed the additional funding, saying it “will enhance our education and training programs and improve the support for survivors of sexual violence.”