7110-1 Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Policy

Preamble

Vanier College is committed to providing a positive, safe and respectful learning and working environment. Among the core values of the College, those of equity, diversity, inclusion, and respect are priority, and violence of any kind will not be tolerated. Pursuant to the Quebec National Assembly Law 151, An Act to prevent and fight sexual violence in higher education institutions (CQLR, chapter P-22.1), this Policy was developed in collaboration with all community stakeholders.

While sexual violence has an impact on all members of society, the College recognizes that sexual violence and its consequences may disproportionately affect individuals whose membership in certain identities exposes them to systemic discrimination and barriers to opportunity on various intersecting grounds such as gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, racialization, religious or cultural affiliation, age, Indigeneity, national or ethnic origin, immigration status, disability/ability, medical conditions, or socio-economic status. We also recognize that such factors can also have an impact on a survivor’s/victim’s needs and choices with regard to recourses.

1. Definitions

1.1 Key Terms

Bystander Intervention: A philosophy and strategy for the prevention of all types of violence. It encourages individuals to be proactive and to safely help those around them by intervening when they are witness to situations involving violence. Intervention may include checking in with the parties involved, creating a distraction, asking the person involved to stop, reporting the situation to an authority, enlisting others for help or documenting the circumstances.

Complainant: Within this Policy, the term “complainant” refers to an individual who initiates a complaint procedure.

Complaint: A complaint is the administrative process for reporting sexual violence to the College.

Consent: Defined as the explicit, free, voluntary, active, direct, unimpaired and conscious agreement to take part in sexual activity. Consent can be withdrawn at any time. Consent should not be assumed based on body language and appearance, relationship status or previous sexual activity, silence, immobility, or incapacitation.

Consent is invalid in the following cases:

the agreement is expressed by the words or behavior of a third party;
the person is incapable of consenting, particularly because the person is impaired by drugs or alcohol, or is unconscious;
the person’s consent is obtained as a result of manipulation or coercion;
the person’s consent is obtained by abusing a position of trust, power, or authority;
the person expresses by words or behavior a lack of agreement to engage in the activity;
the person, having initially consented to engage in the activity, expresses by words or behavior, a lack of agreement to continue to engage in the activity.

For the purposes of this Policy, consent is invalid in the presence of a relationship of direct authority, a helping relationship, or a teaching relationship between an employee and a student community member, pursuant to the Vanier College Code of Conduct.

It is illegal to engage in a romantic and/or sexual relationship with a student who is under 18 years of age when you hold a position of trust and authority, as do all employees of the College.

Disclosure: Within the meaning of the Policy, “disclosure” means that a person reveals that they have been the survivor/victim of sexual violence. A disclosure does not necessarily lead to a complaint process.

Helping Relationship: The helping relationship supports a person in distress. It includes the relationship established with psychologists or psychotherapists, social workers and social work technicians, social service officers, adapted services counsellors and technicians, guidance counsellors, and nurses.

Intimate Relationship: Intimate relationships refer to both amorous and sexual relationships.

One-Stop Service: The One-Stop Service is Vanier’s specialized initial point of service for immediate and comprehensive response to disclosures, reports, and complaints of sexual violence, including implementing appropriate accommodations, psychosocial support, and providing accompaniment to survivors/victims and third-party reports through avenues of official complaints investigations and criminal reporting.

Perpetrator: A person who has committed an act of sexual violence against another individual (namely, against a victim, survivor, or complainant).

Rape Culture: A culture in which dominant ideologies, media images, social practices and institutions promote or condone, implicitly or explicitly, the normalization of sexual violence and victim blaming. In a rape culture, incidents of sexual assault, rape and general gender-based violence are ignored, trivialized, normalized and/or made for the purpose of jokes and entertainment.

Relationship of Authority: A relationship of authority exists between two individuals who occupy different hierarchical levels in the organization. For example, all employees in relationship to students, or the relationship between a supervisor and a member of their team.

Reporting: Within the meaning of the Policy, “reporting,” means that a person provides information regarding sexual violence (either experienced first-hand or witnessed) to a member of the Sexual Violence Response Team (SVRT) at the One-Stop Service. Reporting does not necessarily lead to a complaint being filled and can be done anonymously and confidentially.

Respondent: Within this Policy, the term “respondent” refers to an alleged perpetrator who is the subject of a College complaint or report of sexual violence.

Retaliation/Reprisal: Punishment of a student or an employee by a person in a position of authority or responsibility for having exercised their rights under this Policy to file a complaint or make a disclosure or report.

Sexual Violence: Refers to any form of violence committed through sexual practices or by targeting sexuality or gender. This concept also refers to any other misconduct, including that relating to sexual and gender diversity, in such forms as unwanted direct or indirect gestures, comments, behaviours, or attitudes with sexual connotation, whether enacted person to person or through a technological device. It includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual cyber-violence, queerphobia, transphobia and sexism.

This definition applies regardless of the age, sex, gender, culture, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity of those involved (survivor/victim or perpetrator), regardless of the type of sexual gesture or the environment in which it was made, and regardless of the nature of the relationship between the survivor/victim and the perpetrator.

Sexual Assault: An act that is sexual in nature, with physical contact, committed by an individual without the consent of the victim, or in some cases, through emotional manipulation or blackmail. It is an act that subjects another person to the perpetrator’s own desires through the abuse of power, through the use of force or coercion, or through implicit or explicit threats.

Sexual assault is an attack on a person’s basic human rights, particularly their rights to physical and psychological integrity and to personal security. Sexual assault includes all unwanted sexual activity such as any unwanted sexual grabbing, kissing, fondling, oral or anal sex, “stealthing” (condom removal or tampering without consent during a sexual activity), birth control interference, intercourse or other forms of penetration, as well as rape or attempted rape. Sexual assault can occur between strangers, acquaintances, spouses, within dating relationships, or in any other relationship. Sexual assault is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada.

Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is included in the definition of psychological harassment. It can thus be defined as any vexatious behaviour of a sexual nature in the form of repeated and hostile or unwanted behaviour, verbal comments, writings, actions or gestures that affects the individual’s dignity or psychological or physical integrity and that results in a harmful work or study environment for the said individual or community.

A single serious incidence of such behaviour that has a lasting harmful effect on the individual may also constitute harassment.

Sexual Cyber-Violence: Sexual harassment carried out using information technologies such as social media. Sending comments of a sexual nature regarding the person’s physical characteristics or threats of sexual assault constitute sexual cyber-violence. In addition, disseminating, or threatening to spread rumours or disseminate photographs or audio or video recordings of moments of sexual intimacy without the consent of the person constitutes sexual cyber-violence.

Non-consensual distribution of intimate images is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada. Furthermore, distribution of intimate images of a minor is illegal pursuant to child pornography laws.

Survivor/Victim: A person who has experienced sexual violence. Personal, cultural, and socio-political reasons may influence a person in self-identifying with either term, survivor or victim.

Teaching Relationship: A teaching relationship includes all interactions involved in training, educating, and facilitating learning. This definition includes the relationships between a student and a teacher, but also with any individual who helps the learner acquire knowledge or competencies (instructor, tutor, lab technician, coach, etc.).

1.2 Members of the College Community

Director General: Person responsible for supervising the application of this Policy.

Student: Any person enrolled in a course of study or training activity organized by the College.

Employee: Individuals hired by the college for full-time, part-time, regular or temporary positions in all categories of employment (teachers, professionals, support personnel, casual employee, contractual employee, Coordinators, Deans, Directors, the Academic Dean and any other manager).

Sub-Contractors or Renters: Includes all individuals who enter into a contractual agreement with the College. This includes working at the college for an external organization that is under contract with the college to complete work on campus or offcampus in conjunction with the college and/or members of the college community. It can also include those who rent the use of our facilities for events or activities.

Union Representatives: Individuals designated by their unions as delegates. It also includes any employee of a union.

Student Government Representatives: Individuals designated by the Vanier College Student Association (VCSA) as their delegates. It also includes any employee of the Student Association.

2. Scope

This Policy applies to all Members of the College Community, as well as visitors, subcontractors, renters and the members of the Vanier College Board of Directors. This Policy also applies to all activities and events organized by Members of the College Community on and off college premises, as well as stage placements/internships, college-related travel, and all online communications among Members of the College Community (incl. social media, email or messenger correspondence etc.). Moreover, this Policy applies wherein Members of the College Community are implicated at a non-College activity or event.

For an incident that occurred outside of the purview of the College, the same support and services are available to the student or employee and the College will take all reasonable actions to address any safety or security concerns on campus.

Vanier College has other policies in place that are relevant to issues of sexual violence and harassment such as the Harassment and Discrimination, Prevention and Resolution Policy, which includes Cyber-violence, as well as the Vanier College Code of Conduct. This Policy takes precedence on issues pertaining to sexual violence and is not intended to interfere with any other College policy, or the provisions of any collective agreements or contracts applicable to employees, or the criminal justice system. In addition, nothing in this Policy precludes an individual from exercising their rights under a collective agreement, management agreement, or from seeking alternate routes such as the criminal justice system and the Quebec Human Rights Commission.

3. Objectives

In accordance with the Act, the objectives of this Policy are the following:

To create a healthy and safe learning and teaching environment for students and employees;
To establish the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders of the college community;
To identify and commit to actions to counter rape culture and prevent sexual violence including creating and incorporating comprehensive, campus-wide awareness training and education programs;
To highlight existing prevention and security measures and to put in place additional measures as needed;
To provide guidelines for all activities and events, even those that take place off campus, especially those presenting a higher risk of sexual violence;
To establish the procedures for the processing of disclosures, reports, and complaints, and information obtained pertaining to sexual violence;
To provide a regulatory framework governing the existence of intimate relationships and a teaching relationship or relationship of authority between members of the College’s community;
To organize and offer comprehensive assistance and support to those who have experienced sexual violence including academic or workplace accommodations, counselling services, health services for students and other support as needed, limiting the impact on education or professional work.

4. College Community Obligations And Conduct

4.1 Commitment to Survivors/Victims of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence can result in serious negative impacts on an individual’s physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual health and wellbeing. Vanier College recognizes the trauma of sexual violence and encourages the efforts of individuals to seek support and receive appropriate services. This is a survivor-informed Policy and procedural document. To that end, any survivor/victim of sexual violence can expect to be:

Treated with compassion, dignity and respect;
Provided with timely safety planning and assistance;
Informed about on and off campus support services, including health and counselling services and resources available to them;
Provided with non-judgmental and sympathetic support;
Provided with academic and/or workplace accommodations as appropriate to minimize and address related difficulties and struggles;
Provided with academic and/or workplace accommodations to ensure safety and prevent further unwanted contact with the alleged perpetrator if the alleged perpetrator is a member of the campus community;
Without being directed, survivors/victims determine whether and to whom they wish to disclose or report their experience including:
- Whether or not to disclose to a support person and seek out personal counselling;
- Whether or not to pursue college and/or criminal avenues of recourse;
Protected from retaliation or reprisal;
Protected from questions and comments that imply judgment or blaming the survivor/victim. For example, the survivor’s/victim’s dress, behaviour, consumption of drugs and alcohol, and history of sexual experience;
Protected from questions and comments that minimize or make excuses for the behaviours of the perpetrator/respondent or insinuations that the victim/survivor/complainant has a share of responsibility for what happened to them;
Protected from questions about gender identity, and/or sexual orientation, including assumptions based on gender presentation and/or failing to use the preferred pronouns as identified by the survivor/victim and/or witness (i.e., misgendering);
Accompanied by a person who provides support throughout the entire process.

4.2 Roles and Responsibilities

All members of the College community have a shared responsibility for creating and maintaining a learning and working environment free from sexual violence. This means not engaging in, allowing, or condoning behaviour contrary to this Policy, and safely and appropriately intervening when witnessing possible situations of sexual violence. They must be aware of their responsibility to:

Read and understand this Policy and the role that they must play in its application, in particular, the Commitment to Survivors/Victims of Sexual Violence (4.1);
Respect this Policy;
Participate in training and prevention activities related to this Policy;
Refer anyone who would like to provide or obtain information about sexual violence to the One-Stop Service;
Report abuse or suspected abuse of a minor (younger than 18 y.o.) to the Director of Youth Protection as required by law (Youth Protection Act, Article 39).

Director General

Supervises the application of this Policy;
Attends mandatory training sessions;
Provides support to employees responsible for interventions and ensures that complaints are handled diligently within the given time frame;
Ensures that reports are prepared as required in this Policy and the Act;
Has a leadership role in raising awareness of issues pertaining to sexual violence and embodies the aims and actions outlined in this Policy.

Managers

Managers are, as a part of Vanier’s administration, legally and primarily responsible for immediately taking all reasonable steps to respond to or proactively address sexual violence in the work and learning environments they oversee. To ensure an approach that is consistent, evidence-based and conducted with sensitivity in their approach, they are expected to consult with specialized sexual violence resources within Human Resource Services and the One-Stop Service.

Their additional responsibilities may include:

Facilitating accommodation measures within their team
Intervention in the Environment
Alternative Corrective Measures

Academic Sector

The Academic Sector plays a key role in our prevention of and response to sexual violence by:

Respecting the framework determined by this policy for academic activities and events;
Ensuring that prevention and awareness-raising content, based on current research and scholarship in the field, is integrated into classrooms as appropriate, when covering topics related to sexual and gender-based violence. This includes consideration to trauma-informed school practices;
Fostering a safe and healthy learning environment by limiting the impact of sexual violence on students’ studies.

Vanier College Student Association

Follow the rules providing a framework for activities and events;
Participate in selecting and publicizing training and awareness-raising activities;
Participate in the Standing College Committee on Sexual Violence Prevention and Response;
Participate in mandatory annual training activities;
Advocate in favour of, and embody the aims and actions outlined in, this Policy.

Social Service Officer - Sexual Violence Prevention & Response (SSO-SVPR)

The SSO-SVPR is responsible for the coordination of student reports and complaints of sexual violence made through the One-Stop Service in order to provide a coordinated, timely and appropriate response. The SSO is equally responsible for the coordination and implementation of prevention and training initiatives designed for students.

Respectful Workplace Advisor

The Respectful Workplace Advisor is responsible for the coordination of employee reports and complaints of sexual violence through the One-Stop Service in order to provide a coordinated, timely and appropriate response.

Sexual Violence Response Team (SVRT)

College personnel designated to provide frontline services of support, accompaniment, and guidance to a survivor/victim and/or witness(es) following the disclosure, report, or complaint of sexual violence.

The SVRT also provides support and information on prevention, training, and response efforts.

Standing College Committee on Sexual Violence Prevention and Response

The Standing College Committee reviews and monitors this Policy on an annual basis to measure impact, effectiveness, and relevance, and makes recommendations.

4.3 How to make a Disclosure, Report or Complaint of Sexual Violence

The One-Stop Service is the initial point of service for immediate and comprehensive responses to disclosures, reports, and complaints of sexual violence.

For students, the initial point of contact is the Social Service Officer - Sexual Violence.

For employees of the College, the initial point of contact is the Respectful Workplace Advisor.

4.4 Prohibitions

It is prohibited to:

Commit any form of sexual violence;
Incite a survivor/victim or witness to keep silent about their experiences or knowledge of sexual violence for a reason such as safeguarding the College’s reputation;
Exercise any form of retaliation against a person who has filed a complaint, or has reported or disclosed an incident of sexual violence;
Retaliate against anyone alleged to have committed an act of sexual violence.

4.5 Rules for Activities and Events Organized by Members of the College Community

Members of the College Community in charge of organizing activities and events have a shared responsibility to act proactively to take reasonable steps to reduce risk factors related to the prevention of sexual violence. This responsibility is overseen and supported by the College administration, alongside the specialized resource.

This is especially important during events or activities where increased risk of sexual violence is present, such as during orientation events, and activities where alcohol is present.

4.6 Interdiction of Intimate Relationships Involving a Teaching Relationship, Helping Relationship, or Relationship of Authority [Abuse of Power or Trust]

The College maintains the position that intimate relationships that occur between an employee and a student are contrary to the mission of the institution, as all college employees are considered to hold a position of authority over students. Consequently, employees and students are to abstain from such relationships.

4.7 Declaration of an Intimate Relationship Involving a Teaching Relationship, Helping Relationship, or Relationship of Authority [Abuse of Power or Trust]

The existence of an intimate relationship involving a teaching relationship, helping relationship, or relationship of authority must be declared to the College according to Annex 1 of the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Procedural Document.

4.8 Non-Compliance with this Policy

All members of the Vanier community are subject to this policy, without exception, and are responsible for having familiarized themselves with it. Consequently, claims such as ignorance of the policy or of deviations citing academic freedom are not considered to be reasonable defences for non-compliance or breaches of the policy.

Failure to comply with this Policy will result in administrative or disciplinary action in accordance with the collective agreements and Code of Conduct Policy. This may include, but is not limited to:

A warning on file;
Obligation to participate in extra activities related to sexual violence;
Suspension, expulsion, or dismissal;
A ban on entering the institution or its premises.

In cases where a sub-contractor or rental is involved, the College can cancel a contract without prior notification if the Policy is not respected.

5. Safety And Prevention

5.1 Safety and Security Measures to Combat Sexual Violence

The College periodically verifies the safety layout of the premises, including:

Lighting;
Door locks;
Physical monitoring;
Cyber-surveillance;
Video surveillance.

For this policy, Vanier College Campus Security is responsible for the safety and security of the College premises.

5.2 Sexual Violence Prevention and Training Measures

The College will develop and implement an education strategy.

Prevention and training activities will be offered for all Members of the College Community and will address issues of sexual violence, legal information, bystander intervention, promote a culture of consent and encourage survivors/victims to access support. These activities will be adapted to the target audiences of the college community and consider their role in the institution. External partners, internal resources, and support will be accessed and invited to assist with these activities, as necessary.

Mandatory annual training activities must be organized each year for managers, employees, representatives of their respective associations and unions, and student association representatives.

All students will be required to have completed at least one mandatory training activity during their studies at the College.

5.3 Communications with Students

Social media platforms or text messaging can create the illusion of greater intimacy and can lead, if used without caution, to intended or unintended acts of sexual violence. Consequently, employees of the College are instructed to use only official forms of communication such as MIO and Vanier email when communicating with students.

6. Policy Administration

6.1 Accountability Mechanisms

The Standing College Committee on Sexual Violence Prevention, composed of managers, professionals, support employees, teachers, and students, reviews and monitors this policy on an annual basis to assess its impact, effectiveness, and relevance, and makes recommendations for changes as required.

The College will ensure that all documentation collected or filed during reporting and investigation procedures is handled in accordance with the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information. The College will maintain annual statistics on matters relating to sexual violence without any identifying information in order to maintain confidentiality. Any external reporting of statistics will be in accordance with provincial regulations.

The College reports on the application of this Policy in its annual report.

Vanier College will review this Policy every year for the first 3 years following its adoption and afterward, every 5 years.

6.2 Adoption of Policy

This Policy is under the responsibility of the Director General. It was approved by the Board of Directors and adopted on November 20, 2018. This Policy enters into force on the day of its approval.