The Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Alberta Post-secondary Education report will inform new safety strategies and support survivors on campus.
Almost 13,000 students from Alberta's publicly funded post-secondary institutions responded to the first provincewide campus climate survey on sexual and gender-based violence earlier this year. Alberta's post-secondary system has made meaningful progress in addressing and bringing awareness to gender-based violence and the report, informed by the survey, will be a valuable tool going forward.
"We remain committed to campus safety, including the prevention of gender-based violence. This report gives us a clearer picture of students' experiences across the province so we can address gaps and move forward with strong, survivor-centric supports. Thank you to all the respondents who took the time to provide this invaluable feedback."
Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Advanced Education
This is the first time Alberta-specific data has been gathered about sexual and gender-based violence on the province's campuses - national data has been available but often focused on urban centres. Post-secondary institutions will use data from the report to address needs specific to their campuses including, but not limited to, improving reporting processes, intervening as a bystander, how to respond to a disclosure and increasing awareness of available supports.
"No one should have to live with the fear and experience of violence. Our government is committed to ending gender-based violence and this report is an important step towards making post-secondary campuses safer for students. I am grateful to those who took the time to share their experiences."
Tanya Fir, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women
The report follows through on government's commitment to student leaders who have advocated for help to address gender-based violence in their campus communities. In February 2022, the Ministry of Advanced Education provided $2.5 million to post-secondary institutions to update their gender-based violence policies, train students, staff and faculty to address gender-based violence, fund initiatives to raise awareness of supports available on campus and to conduct the survey.
"This report highlights the critical public safety issue of gender-based violence within post-secondaries. As a next step, CAUS looks forward to working with the ministry to build consent culture within our institutions to better protect our students."
Chris Beasley, chair, Council of Alberta University Students
"All post-secondary institutions play a vital role in preventing and responding to sexual violence and we are all are responsible to ensure the safety and security of our students and community. We look forward to learning from this feedback. It is about creating a culture where everyone in our community is both safe and secure."
David Ross, president and CEO, SAIT
Quick facts
- 12,948 people responded to the survey between Jan. 30 and March 16.
- Grant MacEwan University led the development of the survey with input from Alberta's 26 publicly funded post-secondary institutions.
- Fifty per cent of survey respondents reported experiencing some form of sexual or gender-based violence as a post-secondary student, with sexual harassment identified as the most common form.
Related information
