Crucial Voices Report

 

CRUCIAL VOICES: REPORT ON THE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN TO END GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Crucial Voices is the report of our findings and priorities-for-action from the National Action Plan consultation process. 

From November 2020 to March 2021, SFCC consulted with a diverse range of key informants, organisations, and individual students from across the country, in interviews, group consultations and online surveys, as a part of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. 

In the development of this report, we have brought together our own significant experiences as frontline advocates, and reached out to our networks to develop priorities for post-secondary students in the National Action Plan. People in our networks are often underrepresented in outreach and consultation undertaken by other organisations, due to the grassroots, radical nature of organising. They have shared their own expert perspectives on what is needed to address gender-based violence, which include the barriers they are experiencing in pushing for change within their institutions. It is our shared hope that the Action Plan being drafted centres these recommendations. 

To read the full report: Crucial Voices: Report on SFCC Student Consultations for the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence

To read the stand-alone summary: Crucial Voices Report Summary

We humbly thank all participants who shared their thoughts and experiences through our consultations. Sharing stories about gender-based violence and creating recommendations to improve post-secondary institutions can be intense work. We are so grateful to everyone who took the time to be part of this process. Your voices are the foundation of this report. Thank you. We would also like to thank our amazing designer Ashley Grenstone for the beautiful artwork prepared for these documents, and Tia Wong for the report design. 

We also created a Federal Government Briefing based on what we heard from our networks and survivors. Click here for the Government Summary in English and sommaire en français.

This project has been funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.

When using the Crucial Voices Report, please cite as follows:

Protetch, N. and Rosser, E. 2021. “Crucial Voices: Report on SFCC Student consultations for the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, 2020-2021”. Prepared for Students for Consent Culture Canada. Canada’s National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.

WHAT IS A NATIONAL ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE?

Anti-violence advocates and survivors have been calling for Canada to systematically address gender-based violence for decades.

In 2015, the United Nations recommended every nation have an action plan to address gender-based violence. The National Action Plan is one outcome of ‘It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence.’ This strategy was launched in 2017 by the Government of Canada. Following consultations with stakeholders, the plan laid out three pillars for research and action:

  • Preventing gender-based violence

  • Supporting survivors and their families

  • Promoting responsive legal and justice systems

In August 2020, the The Minister’s Advisory Council on the Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence was reconvened. This Council consists of a combination of the original members who advised on the Federal Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence, including two members of SFCC, and new members. In January 2021, the Federal government tasked the Department of Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) with developing a National Action Plan to address gender-based violence. The Council will support Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) with a national strategy, the next phase of Canada’s gender-based violence policy.

The National Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence will adopt a national approach resulting in a collaboration with the provinces, territories and Indigenous representative organisations. The action plan will touch on many areas of society. Along with other organisations, SFCC was invited to facilitate consultations with postsecondary students. 

We encourage you to read the 2015 Blueprint for an Action Plan put forward by the Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses for more information. Click here to read the Blueprint.

If you are interested in learning more about what is going on at the federal level, you can email us at advocacy@sfcccanada.org.