Premier Christy Clark surprised B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver Wednesday by pledging to pass or adopt aspects of his bill aimed at eliminating sexual violence on university and college campuses.
Under questioning by Weaver in the legislature, Clark promised to work with the Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA on an “urgent basis” to either pass his legislation or amend it and pass a similar version.
“We need to do more to protect women on campus from sexual assault because these life-changing, traumatic events don’t need to happen,” she said.
Weaver introduced a private member’s bill last week that would require all colleges and universities to adopt sexual-violence policies and report sexual assaults to the government and boards of governors. Schools would face penalties for failing to comply.
The bill, which mirrors legislation in Ontario, followed high-profile incidents at post-secondary schools in B.C., including the recent arrest of a male student at the University of Victoria in connection with sexual assaults reported by four women, ages 19 and 20, at the campus.
Weaver said Clark’s response caught him by surprise, and he praised the Liberal leader for promising action.
“I think people with all gender identities across the province are going to be thrilled to hear that, as I am, and I think she deserves a lot of credit for standing up and saying she will support this,” he said.
The UVic Students’ Society also welcomed Clark’s comments.
“Students have been pushing for legislation like this for months and are so grateful to Andrew Weaver for bringing it to the legislature,” Kenya Rogers, director of external relations, said in a statement.
Clark’s government appeared to reject such legislation last week, saying it was working on a “framework” that would give schools the flexibility to develop their own programs and policies.
But Clark told reporters Wednesday that the issue of sexual violence on campus has struck home with her and many other people in recent days.
“I think any woman in this province would tell you that she feels really passionately about this issue, because girls on campus need to be safe. They are our daughters, they are our sisters, our mothers, our aunts, and way too many of them have experienced sexual assault.”
Clark said she has made clear to Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson that she wants to change the culture on campuses.
“That culture where ‘no’ sometimes means ‘no’ and sometimes means ‘yes,’ where young women … and older women are afraid to report, where they do report and apparently don’t see any action from it — that has all got to change,” she said.
Clark was unable to say whether the legislation will be ready this session or which aspects of Weaver’s bill her government will adopt.
“But I’m committed to the principles that are in it,” she said. “This is an urgent issue and it’s something that government should have addressed a long, long time ago, because there have been a lot of women that have suffered in the interim.”
