I am pleased to build on Minister Dunlop’s remarks about the proposed legislative changes. These changes will help set students up for success throughout their post-secondary education and as they transition into rewarding careers.

As a government, our priority is to support Ontario students and help them access high-quality education—education that will help them develop the knowledge and skills they need to get good-paying jobs and support the growth of our economy.

In order for students to flourish in post-secondary education and beyond, we first need to provide them with a solid foundation that fosters success. All students in Ontario deserve to learn in a healthy, safe and respectful environment—an environment where they don’t have to worry about discrimination or harassment while accessing an education.

The safety and well-being of students on campuses across Ontario is a critical responsibility of our colleges, universities and private career colleges—and on our part, our government will continue to take action to support institutions in their efforts.

That’s why today I’m proud to show my support for the two initiatives outlined in Bill 26, the Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act, 2022.

As Minister Dunlop explained, the first set of proposed amendments in the bill introduce changes that demonstrate our zero tolerance stance for sexual assault, harassment and any other form of sexual misconduct in our post-secondary communities. This legislation seeks to help publicly assisted colleges and universities and private career colleges to better address faculty and staff sexual misconduct against students. This includes equipping institutions with stronger tools to address these instances should they occur, unfortunately. Institutions would also be required to have employee sexual misconduct policies that set out rules for behaviour between employees and students and set out examples of disciplinary measures for employees who break these rules.

Finally, the proposed changes would prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements, which can sometimes be used to hide the prior wrongdoing of an employee when they leave one institution for another.

As Minister Dunlop mentioned, after considering the bill in more detail and listening to feedback we received, we are strengthening the language in the bill to protect students even more by using the term “sexual misconduct” instead of “sexual abuse” to refer to both physical and non-physical acts, and making it clear that the use of NDAs, or non-disclosure agreements, is unacceptable unless the student requests it.

As someone who led hiring and recruitment at Sheridan College for the past 13 years, I can tell you first-hand about the level of responsibility institutions feel to get it right. No one should have to worry about sexual misconduct on- or off-campus, especially not students. Our post-secondary institutions go to extensive lengths to attract and retain the best talent for our students. Candidates are led through a rigorous recruitment process and vetted extensively.

Non-disclosure agreements put staff, students and visitors in harm’s way when prior wrongdoing remains a secret.

We need to ensure a safe environment for post-secondary learners, fostering feelings of safety and personal comfort in which to learn, live, work and grow. Not only do we want to surround our students with educators who are inspiring and engaging; we also want to ensure these educators are unfailingly professional.

I’d like to reiterate Minister Dunlop’s statement that in most instances, the faculty and staff at our post-secondary institutions are doing an exceptional job and are demonstrating incomparable behaviour. Unfortunately, there are a few cases where this cannot be said, and so our government will not hesitate to step in.

The second set of amendments in the Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act, 2022, would change the name of Ryerson University to Toronto Metropolitan University. As Minister Dunlop mentioned, the university took steps towards making this name change because of concerns with the legacy of Egerton Ryerson and his role in the creation of Canada’s residential school system. The university came forward earlier this year to request that the government make Toronto Metropolitan University the official legal name of the institution. We are pleased to support this step in the university’s continued journey—a journey that better aligns the university’s name with its current values. The university’s renaming is one of many steps the university is taking to move beyond the legacy of Egerton Ryerson and his role in the design of Canada’s residential school system. I would like to congratulate the university on their decision to rename, on the extensive community consultation they have completed in order to arrive at this decision, and on the resulting report of its task force. I look forward to seeing how the university further acts on the recommendations of its task force to move towards greater inclusion and equity for Indigenous learners.

For many years, I’ve been a committed mentor and coach for students, working with high school, college and university learners to help them overcome the challenges they face when entering the workforce. As someone who is passionate about post-secondary education and supporting students on their career journeys, I can so clearly see how these proposed legislative amendments would be critical to bolstering student success. Ultimately, it all comes down to supporting student access to post-secondary education and ensuring a safe, inclusive learning environment once they get there. I’m proud to say that our government has taken extensive action over the past few years to make this happen.

But while a relatively high number of Ontarians participate in post-secondary education overall, there are still groups that, for various reasons, are under-represented at colleges, universities and Indigenous institutes. That’s truly a shame, because this province needs representation from all individuals who call Ontario home. Their varying perspectives and ideas make us undoubtedly stronger.

For example, low-income students have a high school dropout rate of 30% to 50%, and are less likely to enter a post-secondary education and to succeed once they arrive. As you can imagine, family income is an especially strong predictor for attending university. As such, young people from high-income families are two to three times more likely to go to university than students from low-income families.

Youth in extended care, often referred to as crown wards, face similar challenges in accessing post-secondary education, with a 56% chance of dropping out of high school. It goes without saying that this can often lead to unemployment and underemployment.

And there are students whose parents did not attend post-secondary education. It can be a great honour and also a lot of pressure to be the first in your family to pursue higher education. Unfortunately, only 56% of first-generation individuals—that’s the term we use to describe individuals who are the first in their family to pursue post-secondary education—have a post-secondary credential. That number jumps to 89% for those whose parents both have a degree, a diploma or some other credential. Speaker, 56% compared to 89%—that’s a significant gap.

Students with disabilities face their own unique set of challenges accessing and succeeding in post-secondary education. In 2021-22, over 96,000 post-secondary students were registered with offices for students with disabilities at publicly assisted colleges and universities, and that number has been on the rise for years.

Finally, I’ll note that in 2019, 37% of Ontarians reported having a university degree, but only 16% of off-reserve Indigenous individuals did.

I realize these stats can paint a stark picture of inequity in our province and in Ontario’s post-secondary sector, but it’s important we acknowledge the many factors at play in the context of the important legislation being discussed today.

I’m proud to say that our government has taken definitive action to better support the inclusion, access and success of more students at post-secondary institutions across Ontario. For example, in March of last year, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities engaged with the Premier’s Council on Equality of Opportunity. The council is an advisory group that champions community voices and provides advice to the government on how to help young people succeed in Ontario’s changing economy. The goal of engaging the council was to help seek feedback from stakeholders, advocates and students themselves on how the government can better respond to accessibility challenges faced by minority groups at colleges and universities. We coordinated consultations with different under-represented groups in the post-secondary sector, including those I mentioned earlier. We wanted to hear directly from individuals regarding the barriers they experienced accessing higher education and any challenges they had once they got there. That insight is helping our government shape a better, more inclusive post-secondary system.

I’m proud to say that we have many programs in place that are making a very tangible difference in this area. For example, we provide nearly $10 million annually to Pathways to Education, a not-for-profit organization that provides academic, financial, social and one-on-one supports to Ontarians in certain low-income communities in the province. Pathways to Education helps these youth graduate from high school and successfully transition to post-secondary education. This program supported more than 3,000 students in Ontario last year. That’s 3,000 students who suddenly had the door of higher education opened to them; 3,000 more students who will gain the skills they need to graduate, get a meaningful, well-paying job and help drive Ontario’s economy forward. I know Minister Dunlop had the pleasure of attending the Pathways to Education grad ball a few weeks ago. The event is always a wonderful opportunity to see the very real difference this program can make to so many young people.

Our government also provides more than $11 million annually to support Ontario Postsecondary Access and Inclusion Programs at colleges and universities. This funding helps institutions to provide outreach, transition and retention programs to students who, without supports and interventions, would not otherwise access post-secondary education. It is designed to help students see the value of higher education, see themselves in post-secondary, and help them make the transition and succeed once there. This program had about 273,000 interactions with students in the 2020-21 academic year. That’s more than a quarter of a million touchpoints with students to help them in their post-secondary journey.

We also support something called Ontario Education Championship Teams. As I mentioned earlier, it can be challenging and overwhelming for a first-generation post-secondary student to pursue higher education. This is also true for youth in extended care. Ontario Education Championship Teams help remove informational and administrative barriers for those students so they can transition to post-secondary education and access training and employment. The 21 teams are made up of children’s aid societies, school boards, post-secondary education institutions and employment services. They are doing truly great work. Each year, this important program supports an average of 6,000 students. Again, that’s 6,000 students who may not have thought a post-secondary education was even a possibility for them.

Finally, in the context of today’s proposed amendments to help Toronto Metropolitan University move beyond the legacy of the Indian residential school system, I would like to highlight the work we are doing to support more Indigenous learners with their post-secondary goals. As a government, we are supporting both changes at the local level, such as Toronto Metropolitan University’s name change, and taking concrete steps towards building a post-secondary system that embraces accessibility and equality and promotes success for Indigenous learners and all students.

We know there is an attainment gap in post-secondary education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. Approximately 53% of Indigenous people aged 25 to 64 hold a post-secondary credential, compared to 65% of the non-Indigenous population. There is widespread agreement by Indigenous leaders, communities and education professionals that investing in culturally responsive post-secondary education opportunities for Indigenous learners will have tremendous benefits and reduce this gap.

To this end, colleges and universities across Ontario are committed to improving Indigenous learners’ access, inclusion and participation in post-secondary education. They have prioritized many activities, some in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, including hiring and retaining more Indigenous faculty and staff; increasing recruitment, bursaries and scholarships for Indigenous learners; including more Indigenous content in courses; offering new courses, programs and degrees specializing in Indigenous subject matter; and increasing partnerships with local Indigenous communities.

Our government supports colleges and universities in providing culturally appropriate services and student supports to Indigenous learners through the Indigenous student success fund. Through this fund, our government invests $18.2 million annually to fund programs and services such as Indigenous counsellors; post-secondary education experience camps; elders-in-residence; academic supports; access to Indigenous-focused mentoring, counselling and advising services; partnership development; and student and community outreach activities. To further ensure that universities and colleges include culturally appropriate services, institutions that receive the grant are required to maintain an Indigenous education council comprised of Indigenous community members. The council provides advice and input on programs and services. To respond to community needs, colleges and universities also offer Indigenous study programs such as social work, teaching, early childhood education, and language programs.

In addition to promoting inclusion for Indigenous learners at colleges and universities, Ontario supports Indigenous institutes in providing post-secondary education and training for nearly 1,500 Indigenous learners. Indigenous institutes are an important pillar of our post-secondary education sector. That’s why, five years ago, Ontario took a historic step to formally recognize their important role in delivering post-secondary education in the province. That is when the Indigenous Institutes Act, 2017, came into force. The act allows Indigenous institutes in Ontario that have been independently quality-assured through the Indigenous Advanced Education and Skills Council to offer independently delivered post-secondary education credentials.

Nine Indigenous institutes in the province are currently part of the publicly assisted post-secondary education system. Not only do they provide education and training for thousands of Indigenous learners; they offer programming in a culturally holistic and safe learning environment—an environment where Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing are woven into all aspects of the learner experience. Several institutes serve communities in northern, rural and very remote parts of the province. They provide critical access to learners who might not otherwise participate in post-secondary education and training.

Our government is committed to supporting Indigenous institutes in providing learners in all parts of the province with access to high-quality education and training, so that Indigenous institutes continue to flourish and respond to community demands and the needs of the local labour market. That’s why our government continues to invest in Indigenous institutes across Ontario. In 2021-22, Ontario invested $24.8 million in the Indigenous Institutes Operating Grant, and, in budget 2022, committed an additional $4.5 million over the next three years, for a total of $26.3 million in 2022-23.

There is no greater investment than in the talent and skills of the next generation.

There has never been a more rewarding time to contribute to Ontario’s health care workforce. To help meet the unprecedented health care challenges brought into sharp focus throughout the pandemic, our government is investing $34 million over four years to increase enrolment in nursing and in personal support worker programs at six Indigenous institutes. This funding will help participating Indigenous institutes expand existing programs or create new ones to support the training of approximately 340 practical nurses, 60 registered nurses and 400 personal support workers over four years. To assist these students with completing their studies, Ontario is providing subsidies for tuition, textbooks, child care and costs related to clinical education. Ultimately, we want to make it easier for learners to pursue training as a nurse or a PSW. Overall, this increase in skilled nurses and PSWs will make a significant difference in supporting our health care system and will help Indigenous learners pursue rewarding careers.

In addition to funding for personal support worker and nursing programs, Ontario promotes a diversity of programs that meet the economic, health and social needs of Indigenous communities. Our government is dedicated to creating the conditions that make it easier for Indigenous learners to access a high-quality education. This includes all aspects of a student’s experience, from the learning environment to mental health supports to financial assistance.

To provide Indigenous students, faculty and staff with access to modern and safe learning environments, through budget 2022, our government is investing $4.5 million over three years to support the maintenance of Indigenous institute facilities.

We have also taken decisive action to provide flexible and increased access to mental health supports for Indigenous students. In 2022-23, Ontario is investing $950,000 in the Indigenous Institutes Mental Health Grant. This funding will continue to support Indigenous institutes in offering new or increased access to mental health, wellness, and trauma-related programs, services and supports, primarily for learners at Indigenous institutes. Funding may also be used to provide mental health, wellness, and trauma training for their staff and faculty.

To make it easier for Indigenous people to access a culturally supportive and high-quality post-secondary education, we are also removing financial barriers for Indigenous learners. Our government opened the door to OSAP eligibility for Indigenous institutes as of the 2020-21 academic year. In addition, Ontario offers a range of grants and loans through OSAP to support the unique needs and economic circumstances of Indigenous learners. There were over 5,700 Indigenous learners who received OSAP for the 2021-22 academic year, totalling approximately $78 million in federal and provincial grants and loans across all post-secondary institutions. These supports include the Ontario Indigenous Travel Grant, which addresses the high cost of travelling to a post-secondary school for Indigenous students living in remote First Nations communities.

The real winners are Ontario’s students and communities, who benefit from the incredible work being done at our institutions across the province.

As I mentioned earlier, most faculty on campus are doing a remarkable job of supporting student success. We see this in some of the examples that I’ve shared today. But we need to do more to set students up for success so that they can achieve such milestones. We need to remove barriers to education and provide students with the kind of safe, encouraging, respectful environment where they can focus on what is most important.

Our government is ready to take bold, decisive action in order to do what’s best for Ontarians.

As someone who has worked in the sector for many years, I know that if students don’t feel safe or have a sense of belonging, this will impact their success. That’s why I’m so pleased to see that the measures we are proposing today are truly focused on what matters: the students.

Ontario has some of the best faculty and staff in the world working at college and university campuses across the province.

Interjections.

In fact, in many cases, these institutions are not just home to some of the best and brightest, but they’re also some of the largest employers in our communities.

We know Bill 26 has a strong focus on faculty-on-student sexual violence, but we have heard from the minister and others that this legislation is a welcome addition to the sector.

Can the member elaborate on how Bill 26 is not just good for students, but also for members of the faculty and staff as well?

I listened to the remarks from the member across the way, and I just want to emphasize how prevalent gender-based violence is on university and college campuses in Ontario. The government’s own climate survey showed that 63% of university students—that’s two thirds—experienced sexual harassment while on campus, and 23% disclosed a non-consensual sexual experience. It is a crisis at our post-secondary institutions.

But the majority of the sexual violence that is experienced is student-on-student sexual violence; it is not faculty to student. So I’m wondering, when so many organizations came to the committee and urged the government to include prevention in this bill, to include measures to reduce the prevalence of student-on-student sexual violence on campus, why did the government ignore all of that input?

My question is, 2SLGBTQ students are disproportionately affected by sexual harassment and violence. What should campuses be doing to keep 2SLGBTQ students safe?

I’m pleased to join the debate today on Bill 26, the third reading of the Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act.

Just by way of context, you’ll know that in the official opposition I was the education critic, and in that position I had the opportunity to visit many of the campuses across Ontario. In my own riding I have three educational institutions: Ontario Tech, Durham Trent and Durham College, and the proposed changes that are in Bill 26, I believe, will allow those post-secondary institutions and the students who are in those institutions to succeed going forward.

Now, interestingly, I was also in the standing committee when we discussed amendments, and the member for Nickel Belt was in the course of debating some of the amendments described this legislation as “life -changing” and also “generational.” I think those are two important descriptions when we’re looking at this legislation and what the effects can be, and will be, given the direction and intent and purpose that’s evident in Bill 26.

What’s clear, Speaker, as we debate the bill here this afternoon, is that campuses across the region of Durham, like Ontario Tech, Trent Durham in Oshawa and Durham College in my riding of Whitby, are not only places of learning but, importantly, centres of employment and economic growth for their communities, cities and regions that they call home.

The other aspect of Bill 26 which is important to get on the record is that it’s about also creating the right conditions for student success. It’s also about creating inclusive, respectful and safe environments for learning, and I think those are qualities that we all aspire to for the youth who are that are on campus, as well as faculty and staff.

What’s evident is that the proposed legislation seeks to help institutions like the educational facilities in my riding and other ridings in the region of Durham better address faculty and staff misconduct against students.

First, it will equip these institutions with stronger tools to address instances of faculty or staff sexual misconduct. For example, sexual abuse of a student by faculty would be just cause for dismissal, as it should.

Second, it would prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements, which can be used to hide the prior wrongdoing of an employee when they leave one institution for another. The parliamentary assistant to the Premier, when she spoke earlier in this Legislature, spoke about the effect and cause-effect of that. Also very important, preventing the use of non-disclosure agreements will help to limit instances where an employee leaves an institution to be employed at another institution and their prior wrongdoing remains a secret, unknown to faculty, staff and students.

Third, it would require institutions to have sexual misconduct policies that provide rules for behaviour between employees and students and examples of disciplinary measures for employees who break these rules. These measures will help address instances where faculty overstep a teacher-student relationship with inappropriate behaviour, such as an instance in 2016 when an independent review found that a professor gave alcohol to and made sexual advances towards a student.

Speaker, if approved, the legislation’s amendments would come into force on July 1, 2023. Taken together, these changes will require publicly assisted colleges and universities, as well as private career colleges, to have specific processes in place that address faculty and staff sexual misconduct on campus and to make those processes transparent.

At a fundamental level, no student in Ontario can reach their full potential unless they’re safe on campus and feel safe on campus. Our government believes that everyone should be able to pursue their studies on or off campus without having to worry about sexual violence, harassment or misconduct. Speaker, this is not something we merely believe in, but as a government, in fact, we’ve acted on.

The measures included in Bill 26 further build on our government’s actions to address the safety of students. What I’m alluding to there, Speaker, is about a year ago, in March, we brought forward a set of regulations designed to make the campuses safer than what they were. And by no means is that to cast dispersion on the robust work taking place on campuses across Ontario, including my riding, overall. But what it does is make sure that the checks and balances are in place to help our students who are aspiring to careers succeed in their studies to accomplish that.

I want to share with you a couple of comments from people who have looked at the legislation and one that resides with Ontario Tech University: “Ontario Tech University welcomes the province’s strong support for the post-secondary community’s commitment to eradicating sexual violence and maintaining healthy and safe learning, living, social and working environments for students, staff and faculty members with this bill....”

And, Speaker, I’m conscious of the time, so I’m going to go to my closing, if I could, please.

These proposed amendments, if passed, will benefit students by helping to create a safer, more respectful environment and campus community. Bill 26, I believe, provides measures to help position our post-secondary education sector for continued success for present and future generations, like my granddaughters, Annette and Sophia. The sexual misconduct measures will provide students with more protection—as they should—empowering them to achieve their full potential during some of the most formative years of their lives.

What’s clear with Bill 26 is that we’re building on past successes to help students feel safe and supporting our institutions to continue to uphold high standards. We will continue to work with our colleges and universities, student groups and other partners to make sure our world-class post-secondary institutions—like Ontario Tech, where I was last Friday, with my colleague MPP Dowie—support a bright future for the people in this province—importantly, the students, the staff and the faculty.

To those members in the official opposition, there are times in this place when we have the opportunity to make a strong decision to affect the lives of young people in our communities. Today is a day when you stand in your place and say yes and support this critical piece of legislation—

Thank you, Speaker, through you, to my colleague for that question. It’s a question and discussion that I’ve had on the campuses in my riding, and part of the discussion, in the context of Bill 26, is that in no way should it be perceived as an attack on our faculty or a way to limit their rights or anything else that people might want or suggest to believe.

In fact, many of the faculty and staff on these campuses see the necessity of these sorts of protections, because it keeps them safe and it keeps the students safe. The prime objective of the faculty on campuses, from the conversations that I’ve seen, is to make sure that the students are safe in every way possible, so that, as I indicated earlier, their aspirations that they have, in fact, can be fulfilled. That’s what I’m hearing.

I thank the member for his question—thoughtful as usual.

Our government has shown an incredible commitment to the protections of students on campus, and one of the most notable is, in some respects, the funding, but the non-disclosure agreements and dealing with those non-disclosure agreements, and what the effect has been historically, and what the checks and balances that we’ve put in place now—I think have been significant, Speaker.

Added to that is the work that each of the universities and community colleges have done to put in place their individual policies and programs and services to support their students as well.

I think, taken together—taken together—when the time comes to vote on this legislation, we can satisfy ourselves that we’re putting in place the supports that are needed to help students in our communities, our individual communities, succeed and be protected. That’s why we’re here today to debate the bill. That’s why we’re going to succeed together in moving this bill forward.

It’s an honour to rise in here and speak on Bill 26, which is a bill that is designed to help address sexual assault on campus. I think we all agree on the goal of this—all of us. Many of us have children who are on campuses now or have been recently on campuses and were absolutely shocked and terrified that this is happening so frequently on campus and that it blows up in the media once in a while.

We need students to be safe when they go to college or university, and in order to achieve that, we need processes for education—and I’m just getting some water. So I’m just going to pause for a minute while I get the water. Thank you so much, Oriana.

I just want to give a shout-out to the pages here. They work here, this is their—

Applause.

Anyway, it’s very clear. I think everybody agrees, and we saw this in the committee reports, that if we’re going to really address sexual assault on campus, we need education programs, we need processes for reporting, we need repercussions and we need supports for survivors. This bill takes some measures on increasing the repercussions for those who are accused or those who are guilty of sexual assault or sexual harassment and violence, but it doesn’t do anything on the education front and it doesn’t do anything on the supports for survivors. This is where the bill comes up short and should be improved.

Bill 26 provides post-secondary institutions and private career colleges with clearer rights to fire employees when they are found to have sexually abused a student, to stop them from being rehired, and bans the use of non-disclosure agreements. So there are some measures in here, but we’ve also heard in committee that some of the measures that are in here may not be constitutional. This is a real challenge with this bill, because if they are not, then what this means is that a student may come forward and make a complaint and the complaint will go through the process. It’s very clear from the literature and it’s very clear from people’s experiences and what was written and we heard in committee is that that re-traumatizes the person. You’re asking somebody to come forward and make the complaint, and then if this bill is not constitutional, it could be—whatever repercussions are imposed upon the perpetrator, the charges could go to court and get overturned because this bill is not constitutional, it’s not within the Charter of Rights. This could actually revictimize the victims. That’s why we asked at committee for the government to check this, to make sure that this bill fits within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Sexual assault is an issue that keeps coming up on our campuses. It’s not a new issue, but it does blow up once in a while in the media. We know that it’s going on all too frequently.

At Western University in September 2021, during the orientation week, there were reports from social media that suggested 30 or more students were drugged and/or assaulted on campus in on-campus housing. In the same week, an additional four women came forward to police about three incidents of sexual assault. This prompted a school-wide walkout, and it occurred with 9,000 students protesting a culture of misogyny on campus. They called for Western to review policies and procedures for handling these situations.

Western University students actually came to depute at committee. They want more than what this bill is offering.

So let’s talk about some facts about sexual assault. Post-secondary students experience a disproportionate number of sexual and gender-based assaults compared to the rest of the population. Forty-one per cent of sexual assault cases are reported by students at post-secondary institutions in Canada. Three out of four students have witnessed or experienced unwanted sexual behaviours while attending a post-secondary institution. One in five women will experience rape, and one in 10 young men will perpetrate rape by the time they graduate. Men are disproportionately the instigators and perpetrators of sexual assault and violence and most often against women. And most sexual assault and gender-based violence is committed by students towards other students and occur in high-risk times and spaces on and off campus.

This is one of the other shortcomings of this bill. It only deals with staff harassment and assaults on students. It doesn’t actually deal with student-on-student, which is the most common type of sexual assault on campus. So we need education, we need processes and we need repercussions, both preventive and punitive measures. The stronger punitive measures that are in this bill also don’t consider that sometimes graduate students are also staff members. So if a graduate student who is also a staff member is accused and found guilty of sexual harassment or violence on campus, they may be dismissed as a staff member, but what will happen is, they’re still allowed to be on campus as a graduate student, and that’s one of the things that’s not addressed in this bill, and so the victims may have to continue to be on the same campus with the perpetrator.

I want to talk about solutions, because we heard a lot in the committee about what needs to be done. There were a number of organizations that came to the committee, and every single stakeholder who came to the committee brought forward changes that they wanted to see in this bill. Unfortunately, the government refused almost all of the suggested amendments.

The people who came to committee said, “We want a trauma-informed, survivor-centric, comprehensive and prevention-focused approach to sexual violence and harassment.” They talked to the committee, they made written deputations and the committee heard from survivors.

A coalition of 24 student organizations that included the Canadian Federation of Students, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, the College Student Alliance, the University of Ottawa Students’ Union, the University of Toronto Students’ Union and the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union released in August a comprehensive report called Our Campus, Our Safety. They had 10 calls to action. They wanted provincial standards for data collection on campuses, and that is key, because if you don’t have the data, then you don’t know the extent of the problem and you can’t come up with appropriate remedies. They wanted prevention education. They wanted minimum standards for sexual violence policies. And they wanted mandatory review processes.

There were a number of things that these 24 student organizations asked for, and none of these recommendations are included in the legislation. My colleague the member from Ottawa West–Nepean asked the minister if she had read this report from these student organizations, and the minister said she had read the report, but she didn’t give a reason on why none of the recommendations from these 24 student organizations were included in this bill.

The Our Campus, Our Safety report says we need to go beyond stand-alone, individualistic measures, and I will say this is one of my biggest concerns with this legislation, because I was a part-time professor at York University in 2015-16, and at that time sexual assault became a hot item in the media. They were talking about it and there was a call to bring an end to sexual harassment and violence on campus.

The government of the time, the Liberal government, gave the universities and colleges $42 million and they mandated that all of them have sexual assault prevention policies, but the $42 million went to better lighting and to cameras. At the time, all of these student organizations, all of the advocacy organizations all said, “This isn’t going to solve the problem. It’s a step in the right direction, but this isn’t going to solve the problem. We need a comprehensive approach.”

That was 2015-16, and then in 2021 we had that blow-up at Western University where 9,000 students walked off campus talking about a culture of misogyny. And so the Liberal government didn’t listen to the advocates, they didn’t listen to the experts in designing the legislation and their actions back in 2015-16. Sexual harassment and assault continues on our campuses.

And here we are in 2022, and this government has got another piece of legislation. They haven’t listened to the advocates. They haven’t listened to the experts and designed a comprehensive piece of legislation that will actually address these issues. It’s an incredible lost opportunity, because what I’m afraid is going to happen is that this legislation, because it only addresses punitive measures for staff-on-student sexual harassment and assault, doesn’t take a comprehensive approach, and so it’s going to continue and students are going to continue to be victimized on their campuses.

Let’s talk about solutions. One of the solutions has actually been presented by my colleague in the NDP. MPP Wong-Tam, the member from Toronto Centre, has brought forward a piece of legislation called Consent Awareness Week Act. It’s Bill 18. It’s before the House, and it was supported by the member from Toronto Centre, the member from Davenport, the member from St. Paul’s and the member from Kitchener Centre.

The point of this bill is to proclaim the week beginning on the third Monday in September in each year as Consent Awareness Week. The goal of Consent Awareness Week is to engage and create space one week every year for Ontarians to have meaningful, positive, intersectional and age-appropriate conversations around consent, what it means and what it looks like. My colleague from Toronto Centre said, “Sexual assault of any kind causes lifelong trauma and impacts relationships for the rest of the survivor’s life.”

That bill was carried at first reading. What we heard is, that kind of action, that Consent Awareness Week and the education that was implicit in that bill, was asked for by every group that came to committee. These groups included Courage to Act, Possibility Seeds, the YWCA and many gender-based violence experts; they included unions, like OCUFA, CUPE, OPSEU and OSSTF. They all asked for a comprehensive approach to addressing sexual harassment and violence on campus. They asked for education: education on consent, education on prevention, education on safety measures, on what your rights are and education on what to do if something happens. They also wanted education on how to intervene safely and what to do if something happens to you or someone discloses an incident of sexual violence or harassment to you.

I want to talk about consent for a minute. That’s part of the education. We need education about consent. The Canadian Women’s Foundation says that 96% of Canadians believe that sexual activity between partners should be consensual, but only one in three actually know what consent means. They believe consent should be there—96% of people believe there should be consent with sexual activity—but one in three don’t know what it means. That shows there’s this education gap, and that’s an opportunity for this bill to address that gap.

Let’s see. My colleagues, the members from Nickel Belt and Ottawa West–Nepean, in committee moved amendments to mandate prevention education. They wanted it for all students, faculty and staff at publicly funded universities and colleges and at private career colleges, but the government voted against it. It seemed odd. Why would you vote against incorporating prevention education into this bill? The rationale from the government was that they couldn’t incorporate it into the bill without doing consultation on it, but the committee hearings themselves were consultation.

I mentioned a number of organizations that were there, but among the student organizations that were at committee, there was the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, the Canadian Federation of Students, Courage to Act, Possibility Seeds, University of Toronto Students’ Union, PEARS Project, OCUFA and Western University. Those are just some of the people who spoke or made submissions to the committee.

So the committee itself was the consultation. There was no reason not to take what they had said, what they were recommending, and incorporate it into this legislation. Even if there was a reason, if the government had doubts about what direction to take this, there’s a thing in the Legislature called “travelling a bill.” So if the government isn’t sure they’ve got the legislation right, they can take the bill and a group of MPPs, travel all across the province and get feedback on it, and then make recommendations and revamp the bill. That was a possibility here as well, but the government didn’t take it.

The other thing that I want to talk about is supports for survivors. After the blow-up in 2021, Western University launched the Action Committee on Gender-Based and Sexual Violence. It was an independent review to identify policy gaps or procedural failures related to the events of September 2021. The report called for preventative measures.

They appointed a special adviser to address campus culture and safety; they required all incoming students to complete a gender-based and sexual violence education, prevention and awareness training program; they hired an additional gender-based and sexual violence support case manager and education coordinator; they created a training program for Western special constables and other security personnel; and they provided more support to student organizations like fraternities and sororities to address issues around gender-based and sexual violence and helped them to apply for funding through the Canada Research Chairs Program and the Canadian research excellence program.

And so Western University went through this process just last year. They came up with some actions to address sexual harassment and violence on their campus. But the actions that they took, the lessons that Western University learned from their experience, were not incorporated into this legislation, and that’s a real concern. This is a lost opportunity.

Let’s see. What we heard is that there aren’t adequate investments at post-secondary institutions to enhance gender-based violence prevention training and supports. We should be taking an opportunity like this bill to really do everything that we can to prevent future sexual harassment and violence on campuses, and what we’re seeing and what we’ve heard is that this hasn’t gone far enough.

I’m speaking particularly to the members opposite, to the members in the Conservative government here. The goal is clear: The goal is to address and prevent and to deal with sexual harassment and violence on campuses. This bill just doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t have the comprehensive education. It has some increase in repercussions, but it doesn’t have a comprehensive process for dealing with sexual harassment and violence, and it doesn’t have the supports that survivors need. This is a real lost opportunity.

I’ve got one minute left. I want to talk about the renaming of Ryerson University to Toronto Metropolitan University. This is a measure that’s good, that’s very supportable in this bill. It’s something that needed to happen because, as we just heard from my colleague from Kiiwetinoong, there is long-lasting trauma from the residential school system, and it’s intergenerational trauma. The renaming of that school will hopefully be one small step towards healing and towards real truth and reconciliation for the First Nations people of this land.

So thank you for that part of it. I wish the government had gone further on the sexual harassment and violence piece.