WAWG’s Response to Jordan Peterson

The Province of Ontario elect­ed a Pro­gres­sive Con­ser­v­a­tive, gov­ern­ment on June 7, 2018.

At Ontario Coali­tion of Rape Cri­sis Cen­tres (OCR­CC), we have appre­ci­at­ed the sig­nif­i­cant work of the pre­vi­ous Ontario government’s It’s Nev­er Okay: An Action Plan on Sex­u­al Vio­lence and Harass­ment, and its lead­er­ship in the Action Plan’s imple­men­ta­tion, includ­ing the Premier’s Provin­cial Round­table on Vio­lence Against Women.

We also recent­ly saw the launch of the Ontario Gen­der-Based Vio­lence Strat­e­gy, which would direct­ly increase fund­ing to sex­u­al vio­lence sup­port ser­vices in Ontario. The Min­istry of Sta­tus of Women’s work, under the Ontario Lib­er­al Par­ty, made brave and effec­tive efforts to raise aware­ness around sex­u­al vio­lence, improve sup­port for vic­tims, improve pre­ven­tion edu­ca­tion, and intro­duce pol­i­cy that improved sys­tem response to sur­vivors. In the time of #MeToo and #Time­sUp, this work was time­ly —and in our opin­ion, unprece­dent­ed in our government.

We val­ue the Province’s com­mit­ment to address gen­der-based vio­lence, its preva­lence, and the chal­lenges fac­ing sur­vivors of vio­lence. We hope this work con­tin­ues – as many will agree, much more work still needs to be done.

OCR­CC hopes to work with our new gov­ern­ment to fur­ther this impor­tant cause. While change can be chal­leng­ing, there can also be opportunities.

Here’s what we com­mit to do:

OCR­CC will con­tin­ue to speak up with and for sur­vivors of sex­u­al vio­lence, address vic­tim-blam­ing myths, and reduce stig­ma for those who have been sex­u­al­ly vio­lat­ed. We will also con­tin­ue to speak up for women’s rights, includ­ing women and girls’ right to live free from vio­lence, and for the rights of all mar­gin­al­ized and equi­ty-seek­ing groups.

Be part of this work. Here’s what you can do:

1. Con­tin­ue believ­ing sur­vivors of sex­u­al vio­lence in your com­mu­ni­ties.
2. Help con­nect sur­vivors and those that care about them to sex­u­al vio­lence sup­ports near you.
3. Advo­cate for gov­ern­ment invest­ment and sup­port in com­mu­ni­ty sex­u­al assault sup­port ser­vices.
4. Stand up for those who expe­ri­ence stig­ma and dis­crim­i­na­tion on the basis of their gen­der iden­ti­ty, sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, sex, gen­der, race, age, eth­nic­i­ty, reli­gion, and oth­er fac­tors.
5. Join and sup­port orga­ni­za­tions, move­ments and groups advo­cat­ing for an end to sex­u­al violence.

Togeth­er, we will make a difference.

Ontario Coali­tion of Rape Cri­sis Cen­tres (OCR­CC) is a net­work of com­mu­ni­ty-based sex­u­al assault centres/​rape cri­sis cen­tres across Ontario. Sex­u­al assault cen­tres deliv­er free and con­fi­den­tial cri­sis, advo­ca­cy and ongo­ing sup­port to sur­vivors of sex­u­al vio­lence through­out all of Ontario. If you or some­one you know has been affect­ed by sex­u­al vio­lence, please go to http://​www​.sex​u​alas​sault​sup​port​.ca.