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Editor’s Note: The name of the venue at which the Junos were held has been corrected from the initial column.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Ferderber: Russell Peters's 'joke' about young women had no place at the Junos Back to video

Many of us in Ottawa’s music community were very excited to have our city host the Juno Awards on Sunday night; unfortunately, the show quickly took an unpleasant turn. Co-host Russell Peters chose to open the evening by looking out at the crowd gathered at the Canadian Tire Centre and commenting “Look at all the young girls. This is a felony waiting to happen.”

This comment needs to be considered in context: Here in Ottawa, about one-quarter of new cases of sexual assault reported to our hospital emergency rooms happen at or around mass events. Big music shows and stadium events such as the Juno Awards and after-parties certainly qualify as mass events. Young women are at particular risk for these kinds of assaults.

There were certainly many women in the audience on Sunday who are survivors of sexual violence, including many who had experienced sexual assault in their youth. These women and girls were listening while a comedian mocked them. They deserve more respect. There are also young men in the audience, learning what kinds of comments and behaviour are seen as funny and acceptable by the crowd. They deserve a better education than this.