News Conference January 29, 2015
Thank you all very much for coming today.
First, I wish to thank the Task Force for doing such a thorough job on a very challenging and troubling issue.
Special thanks to the chair, Caroline Andrew, for her strong leadership.
The report being released today provides practical advice on the changes we need to make on our campus.
The University accepts and commits itself to the implementation of all of the Task Force’s recommendations.
I also want to thank everyone whose participation enriched this process:
- the students, faculty and staff who shared their views and experiences
- the experts both on and off the campus who offered advice on the way forward
- And our alumni, so many of whom sent expressions of support and made constructive suggestions about how best to respond.
Over this past 10 months, the Task Force has, in effect, led a conversation here on campus-- a conversation we needed to have as a community.
And I speak for the University in saying that we are committed to ensuring that it leads to meaningful change.
The University, of course, is not alone in confronting the societal issue of sexualized violence in all of its forms.
This past year alone, we have seen the issue arise on a number of campuses in Canada and the United States, as well as in some of our venerable national institutions.
Now despite the quality of the report we are receiving today, it is not within our power here at the University to change all of society overnight.
But by doing all we can on our own campus to make the environment safe, respectful and free of sexualized violence, we can become a beacon and create an example for others to follow.
The Task Force report that we received today provides us with a starting point in that effort.
These events raise difficult questions:
- How do we as a society view and depict women?
- Why do so many incidents of sexual violence go unreported?
- How do we change attitudes that condone or downplay the impact of sexual violence?
- How do we influence behaviours and attitudes?
- How best to bring about the change we need and want?
I asked the Task Force to help us find some of the answers.
Its members took stock of what we are doing and examined what more we can do to
- encourage respect in all our dealings with others,
- denounce misogynist behavior and
- strengthen the protective and preventive policies and practices we already have in place.
Its findings are clear: we have work to do.
We are committed to doing that work and we will immediately begin implementing all the recommendations in the Task Force report.
Our goal is to make our university a place where we treat each other with respect, where students, faculty and staff feel safe and where survivors of sexual violence--- should it occur-- get the support they need.
As the report indicates, the administration cannot tackle these issues by itself.
As urged by the Task Force, we must seek the assistance of our community to successfully implement the recommendations.
Implementing these recommendations will mean changes to collective agreements that cannot be made without the agreement of our unions.
We will also need the support of our student associations in changing the way things are done on campus.
We look forward to working together to achieve the goals we share.
The University also plans to collaborate with groups in the broader community that have the expertise we need to succeed.
Conclusion
This University exists in order to teach, so that others may learn. It exists too in order to discover, so that we can make the world a better place.
So I say to my colleagues on campus, to our faculty, to our students and to our staff: let’s do what we do best.
Let’s learn from what has happened, and from the report we have received today.
And together, by acting on its recommendations, let’s make ours a better place.
Thank you.
