Education and training are important for eliminating myths about sexual violence. We hope to foster a culture where consent is mandatory and understood, survivors are believed and support resources are widely available.

We all have a role to play in working to educate about sexual violence in our communities. You can join the Active Bystander Program, which focuses on intervening if you ever witness an act of sexual violence, and learn more about how to support survivors by exploring our resources page.

Our Active Bystander Program aims to educate our community members to step in when witnessing any form of sexual violence. Through training programs and initiatives, we hope to create a community that is educated on what sexual violence is, how consent can be incorporated in our daily lives and empower individuals to say or do something when witnessing any form of sexual violence.

Sexual violence may appear in the media often; however, incidents of sexual violence are highly underreported.

There are many barriers that exist that make it difficult for survivors to openly seek support or report their experiences with sexual violence, including:

• Fear of not being believed.
• Shame, embarrassment, guilt and self‐blame.
• Fear of retaliation by the perpetrator.
• Concerns of re‐victimization by the system.
• Someone who is part of the LGBTQ* community may not want to disclose out of fear of the implications that may follow.
• Someone with a disability may be reliant on a support person for care and may be in fear of what might happen to them afterwards.
• Someone from a targeted community may not see the police as there to protect them.

As an active bystander, you can help decrease these barriers for survivors by contributing to a culture that takes these issues seriously and aims to prevent additional violence from happening. 

It is important to always listen to the person experiencing violence or discrimination to ensure you are not taking power away from them. For example, some survivors may not feel comfortable contacting the police, so it is important that you respect their wishes, and provide them with other avenues of support.

If you are interested in Active Bystander training, please contact the Centre.