MPP SCOTT BEGINS FIRST DAY OF COMMITTEE HEARINGS ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT BILL

PETERBOROUGH – Fleming College, Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, Trent University, and YWCA Peterborough Haliburton were among the presenters today who spoke during the first day of the Committee on Social Policy’s review of Bill 132.

The Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act (Supporting Survivors and Challenging Sexual Violence and Harassment), 2015 which amends six different pieces of legislation through which it removes limitation period for survivors to file claims on sexual assault, requires colleges and universities to implement and review sexual violence policies, and shorten the notice period for tenants to flee domestic or sexual violence, among other proposals.

“I want to thank all the women and men from frontline agencies, victims’ services, and educational institutions who came and spoke to committee on their recommendations and best practices for combatting sexual violence and harassment,” said Ontario PC Critic for Women’s Issues Laurie Scott (MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock). “One in three Canadian women will experience sexual violence and/or harassment in their lifetime and this bill is the beginning of the large amount of work that needs to be done to combat this issue.”

“Although all sides of the Legislature support Bill 132, I look forward to further amendments and recommendations which can strengthen the bill. That is the reason why it is so important to travel across the province and hear from experts on how to best address these very serious and heinous behaviours in our society,” said Scott.

Scott also wants the Liberal government to take immediate action on creating a province-wide anti-human trafficking taskforce. Ontario is a major hub for human trafficking in Canada, particularly along the Highway 401 corridor. Trafficking is a form of modern day slavery where victims are forced into prostitution through various methods of coercion. It is one of the largest growing crimes and over 90 percent of trafficked survivors and victims are Canadian born. The average age for these persons is approximately 14 years old.

It has been seven months since MPP Scott’s motion to create an anti-human trafficking taskforce received unanimous support from the House. On December 10th, 2015 the Select Committee on Sexual Violence and Harassment tabled their final report which also recommended that the government create a taskforce on trafficking in Ontario.

“Premier Wynne needs to take action on this issue and create an anti-human trafficking taskforce,” said Scott. “Through this taskforce, our province would be able to not only combat human trafficking, but improve victims’ services, and improve the education of this issue for our schools, frontline workers in health care and the judiciary, as well as police agencies.”