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Today (March 22), the province unveiled an awareness campaign focused on preventing sexual assault.

The "Say Something" initiative targets young adults to change attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate sexual violence. The campaign's goals include dispelling myths about sexual assault, raising awareness (with resources on how to offer or to get help), educating bystanders on their role, and empowering them to take action.

In a Ministry of Public Safety news release, the province said it will supply grants to support programs focused on the prevention of sexual violence and assisting its victims. The move follows the release of a long-term Vision for a Violence Free B.C. Strategy that was launched last year.

In a video posted online, Public Safety Minister Mike Morris said the goal of the "Say Something" campaign is to change people’s attitudes and behaviour so they will speak up in defence of people who have been victims of sexual assault.

“Don’t stand by knowing that somebody has gone through this traumatic experience,” he said. “Say something.”

In a telephone interview with the Straight, Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women's Resource Society, said that increasing awareness and prevention is important, but she cautioned women who are marginalized can still get left out.

“We predominantly work with women who are marginalized by their experiences of poverty, repeated experiences of violence, struggles with substance abuse, struggles with mental and spiritual wellness,” Abbott told the Straight. She added that many of the women Atira works with have experienced some form of assault for most of their lives.

Abbott explained that building trust between assault victims and those wanting to help plays an important role in engagement and support.

“Often women don't report or make complaints because they haven’t been believed,” she said. “They've been treated badly or they feel reprieved from their assaulter or their assaulter's friends.”

Abbott noted several myths about sexual assault, including women feeling responsible, that women lie about assault, and that it is predominantly a stranger who commits violence against a woman.

“Most sexual assaults happen between people who know each other—acquaintances, friends, relatives,” she said.

A SexAssault.ca report indicates that 80 percent of assailants are friends or family of the victim. According to the General Social Survey on Victimization, there were 70,000 reported sexual-assault incidents in B.C. in 2014.

Meanwhile, Premier Christy Clark has reiterated that her government is working urgently to pass legislation aimed at preventing sexual assaults on college and university campuses.

That action was largely prompted by the B.C. Green party proposing the Post-Secondary Sexual Violence Policies Act.



According to a March 16 Green party media release, the bill, drafted by Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Andrew Weaver, would create a legal requirement for colleges and universities to "develop and maintain policies that would provide education for students, support for survivors and would work to prevent the occurrences of sexual assault on campuses".

The Liberal government has pledged to pass Weaver's bill or comparable legislation with amendments, according to the release.

Follow Jocelyn Aspa on Twitter @jocelynaspa