Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response policy review

EQHR is looking for general feedback on the Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response Policy. This feedback will inform all stages of the policy review including the development of the consultation and review process and, in some cases, informing policy language.

What is sexualized violence?

In the Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response Policy (SVPR) sexualized violence is defined as any non-consensual, unwanted, actual, attempted, or threatened act or behavior that is carried out through sexual means or by targeting a person’s sex, sexual identity, or gender identity or expression.

For more information on the forms it may take, please visit " What is sexualized violence?"

Policy review timeline

Note: Consultation leaders will not be able to respond to reports of sexualized violence. If you have a disclosure to report please contact EQHR by email at .

Over a three month period we will gather input from the university community; this input will inform revisions to the policy, procedures and any related program recommendations.

Your feedback is vital to help consultation leaders consider all perspectives when reviewing the sexualized violence policy.

Phase I 

June-July 2020 – Define scope and terms of reference for policy review

Status: Complete

Inform community that the SVPR policy and procedures will be undergoing review and invite preliminary input:

  1. identify areas of the policy and procedures that should be revised; and,
  2. matters to consider in the review process

Phase II

August 29-October 2 – Gather community input

Status: Complete

Using an anonymous survey, we gathered input from the university community focusing on three areas of possible reform:

  • informal resolution strategies
  • addressing intersectionality
  • reconciling tensions with other laws and legislation

The survey is now closed.

Host a Conversation Café

Conversation Cafés are small group gatherings designed to explore a topic through conversation with people who are open-minded, respectful, and willing to listen to diverse perspectives. 

After reviewing the policy and supporting material posted on the EQHR website, the Conversation Café model encourages small groups of friends, co-workers, or classmates to hold informal discussions about the ways in which the policy and procedures could be improved to better respond to the needs of the UVic community.

Resources

Direct feedback

You can also email directly. The email is monitored by the EQHR Executive Director and Chair of the Advisory Committee. All submissions will be anonymized and kept confidential.

November 17- December 2, 2020 - Draft policy review and feedback

Status: Complete

Having informed the draft policy, community members will be invited to comment on the draft policy and procedures.

You are invited to review the draft Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response Policy – revisions 2020. This draft is an update to the 2017 Policy. Changes build on information gathered at community consultations over the past two months.

To provide feedback, please send comments to

Tips to help us incorporate your comments:

  • Note the section number if you are referring to a specific section or page number if a specific page
  • Be as specific as possible
  • Focus on the language of the Policy and Procedures—an implementation plan is coming soon.

Phase III

January-February 2021 – Board approvals and report to community

We anticipate the revised Policy and Procedures will go forward to the Board of Governors for approval at their January 2021 meeting.  After the approval process is complete, EQHR will report to the community.

Confidentiality

The online survey does not ask for personally identifying information. Demographic information is optional. There are open-ended questions. From these answers, survey information will be summarized by the EQHR Executive Director and Chair of the Advisory Committee and reported to the Advisory Committee. The results will also be summarized and aggregated to form reports to the university community. Identifying information will be removed to maintain anonymity and respect confidentiality.

In the conversation cafés, complete anonymity and confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. At the outset of the conversation, the conversation leader should discuss the importance of confidentiality. Namely that, conversation participants should not share anyone else’s personal stories unless they have express permission from the other person. Because conversation participants may attend classes together, be part of a team, or work together, it is especially important that participants not feel like what they choose to share here, or their struggles as they engage in a good faith process of learning, be used against them outside of this space. It is up to each conversation participant to respect the confidentiality of information shared by other participants.

Your conversation group may choose together how you wish to be represented. You may wish to name your organization or group or another option would be that your organization, unit, or collective wishes be identified in more generic terms, such as “a student advocacy group” or a “campus union” or “a group of graduate students”. However, given the scope of the consultation mandate and in order to contextualize the feedback it is important that we are able to identify you in some way in our discussion and written results.