Sexual Violence Prevention Month has many advocates in Saskatchewan raising awareness on the gaps in resources.
According to Sexual Assault Services of Saskatchewan, the province has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in Canada. Prevention tactics across the province are shifting to focus on transforming cultural norms.
“Residents of Saskatchewan are assaulting and abusing each other at a rate that is almost double the national average, and for those behaviours to change, there needs to be role models who are leading positive change and setting the standard for what behaviour looks like,” Sexual Assault Services of Saskatchewan community outreach specialist Tal Marsolais said.
Marsolais said she sees violence in Saskatchewan often stemming from gaps in leadership due to ongoing impacts of colonialism, a lack of resources in remote communities, and mental health and addictions.
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“So that can make barriers for survivors to access services, but then it also means that there are less equitable services for the prevention side too,” Marsolais said.
The Saskatoon Sexual Assault and Information Centre — which serves approximately 800 clients annually, half of them new clients — also sees a need for alternative supports.
“Sexual violence is not inherent. It is not inevitable. ” It’s something that is either due to a lack of education or through learning the wrong things,” said the centre’s education and outreach co-ordinator, Morgan Price.
Price said there is a need for prevention work targeting folks at risk of perpetrating to stop harm from being normalized.
“Sexual violence is no longer just a women’s issue, it’s a people issue,” Price said.
Statistics show that most perpetrators are men, and there has been a spike in the popularity of extreme misogynistic ideologies on social media, typically directed at men, Price said.
“It starts off often as self-help or self-improvement kind of content and then focuses into more extreme ideologies, which, of course, algorithms like that because they perform better and are more exciting to the viewer,” Price said.
Marsolais said it will take real leadership to change the culture.
“It’s not as if Saskatchewan’s leaders of all levels and all kinds woke up one day and decided to create these cultures; it’s sexual violence thrives in silence,” Marsolais said.
Both organizations are providing free educational material to learn more.
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