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February 2021, Courage to Act Newsletter
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Welcome to the February edition of the Courage to Act newsletter! It’s Black History Month - an important time to reflect on and celebrate the contributions of Black communities, and take meaningful action to address anti-Black racism. Gender justice advocates are invited to take inspiration from our curated reading list and implement concrete action plans.
This month, we are highlighting a number of exciting resources, learning opportunities and conversations on gender-based violence (GBV) awareness and support. In this edition, you’ll find a spotlight on new training being offered at several French-speaking universities; strategies to engage athletes in GBV prevention; a commentary on disciplinary counselling at Canadian post-secondary institutions; information on a new sexual consent education module; skillshare highlights and more!
February has been a busy month for us. Many thanks to all who participated in the National Skillshare Series and the National Action Plan to End GBV consultations. Your experience and expertise is invaluable. There is still time to participate in our Lessons Learned from the Pandemic survey which will assess the impact of the pandemic on GBV intervention on campuses across Canada. Your feedback will help GBV and PSI communities better understand how to address GBV in the pandemic era, strengthen advocacy efforts, and highlight promising practices. Thank you for all that you do.
With Care,
CJ Rowe & Farrah Khan
Co-Directors, Courage to Act
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Promising Practice: Varsity athletes have a lot of power, visibility and influence on our campuses. GBV education and prevention programs that leverage the leadership of varsity athletes can help change campus culture, strengthen peer education and ensure that our campuses are built upon cultures of consent. Read about Carleton's Champions for Change program, and Bailey and Daniel's tips on how to build and sustain this type of programming on your own campus!
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Reflection: In this article, Dr. Jesmen Mendoza reflects on student judicial affairs processes and the importance of counselling sanctions for respondents who have been found to have caused harm (gender-based violence). He notes that this key sanction remains underutilized on many post-secondary campuses in Canada, and offers three ideas on why this might be the case. You can read the article in full here!
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Nouvelle Formation: Une toute nouvelle capsule de formation obligatoire, intitulée « Ensemble pour contrer la banalisation des violences à caractère sexuel », a récemment été déployée à grande échelle dans plusieurs universités francophones du Québec. Apprenez-en plus sur le sujet et découvrez les raisons qui ont poussé l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) à développer une capsule sur cette thématique bien particulière. Cliquez ici pour en savoir plus!
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New Resource: As discussions continue on whether universities should have sexual consent education, and if they ought to be mandatory, Dr. Tavcer asks what can be done differently to reduce the prevalence of sexual violence on campus, especially in the face of dwindling budgets and lack of access to programs and services. She shares details on her new study on sexual consent education and the online education consent module she's developing for Mount Royal University. Read more here!
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Courage to Act: Project Highlights
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Featuring immersive sessions, can’t miss conversations and a wonderful line-up of speakers, the National Skillshare Series (January 2021 - August 2021), will showcase a wide array of cutting-edge tools developed by the Courage to Act network to address and prevent gender-based violence on campus. Supported by CACUSS, these skillshare sessions are also a recognized learning opportunity. Attendance at ten or more webinars or skillshare sessions will count towards an online certificate.
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UPCOMING SKILLSHARES
Engaging Men on Campus Community of Practice
Resource: Pathways for Engagement Toolkit
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 10th, 2021 | 1:00-2:00 PM (EST)
Can Justice Heal Community of Practice
Resource: Towards a Justice that Heals Toolkit
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 24th, 2021 | 1:00-2:00 PM (EST)
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RECORDED SESSIONS
To watch recordings of past webinars or skillshare sessions, please click here.
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Preview: The Educators Community of Practice developed a peer-facilitated workshop to help graduate students develop practical skills around navigating power dynamics in academia and setting boundaries for healthy relationships. Their tool is designed to reflect the lived realities of diverse graduate student populations who may be at an elevated risk of gender-based violence. Read more here.
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Preview: The Complaints Processes Community of Practice has created a Learning Hub with resources to understand trauma-informed practices and procedural fairness, and the need to apply both in cases of gender-based violence, particularly where a formal complaint is to be investigated and adjudicated. Click here to learn more about the Learning Hub.
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🔔 COVID-19 has impacted efforts to address and prevent GBV at PSIs. It has exacerbated pre-existing challenges, while also inspiring adaptation to, and innovation in, service provision. One year later, we are curious to know about this impact on your work and campus community. We invite administrators, faculty, frontline workers, educators and student leaders at PSIs in Canada with interest in and knowledge of GBV intervention and prevention on campus to participate in this short survey. It will take less than 10 minutes to complete. The survey is focused on the time period of March 2020 - present day. Your responses will be anonymous. We will publish a "lessons learned" report in Spring 2021. Your feedback will help our communities better understand how to address GBV in the pandemic era, highlight promising practices, and inform advocacy across Canada.
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Community Spotlight
An Inclusive & Intersectional Lens
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Publishing Opportunity
Working on an innovative program or policy intervention at your PSI? Got a promising practice to share, or an interesting take on how to best address and prevent gender-based violence on campus? We would love to hear from you. Consider writing for our blog! Please contact Anoodth Naushan, Project Manager at anoodth@couragetoact.ca for more information.
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