St. Clair College has announced a partnership with Respect, Educate, Empower Survivors (REES) to make online reporting available to the campus community.
St. Clair is the first college in Ontario to adopt the REES platform, which is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week centralized online reporting and information platform that provides increased options for students, staff, and faculty to report sexual violence.
REES founder and CEO Mary Lobson says they're very excited to be working with them, after the University of Windsor adopted the platform last year.
"So it's actually exciting that really within the City of Windsor both of the leading postsecondary institutions have it available on their campuses so that any student in the area who goes to either of the schools has that consistency," she said.
REES includes multiple reporting options and critical information about resources and supports available both on campus and in the community.
Lobson says it can be found right on the St. Clair website and is available for students or faculty.
"And it takes them to a portal where they can write down or create a record of the incident and choose from multiple reporting options, as well as access information about supports and resources that are available both on campus and in their community."
According to a 2019 Stats Canada Survey on Individual Safety in the Postsecondary Student Population, 71 per cent of postsecondary students witnessed or experienced unwanted sexualized behaviours over the past year.
Less than one in ten spoke about what happened with someone associated with the school, and Lobson says that's not a surprise which is why they focused on the anonymous submission piece.
"For someone who maybe doesn't want to come forward or attach their name to a record," she continued. "They can provide some critical data and insights back to the institution around when it occurred, where it occurred, so institutions can use that information to inform policies, prevention strategies and awareness campaigns."
St. Clair College and the University of Windsor are the only schools in Ontario to implement the platform since it first launched in 2020, joining Red River College, Okanagan College, Mount Allison University, and St. Francis Xavier University across the country.
College President Patti France says they're pleased to partner with REES to provide a secure online platform to report incidents of sexual
misconduct.
"St. Clair is committed to addressing any incident of sexual violence on campus. All members of the College community will now have a platform to create a record of an incident and the opportunity to personally determine how to report it, whether it is through anonymous channels or through campus connections."