Provincial Government looks to increase post-secondary student safety

Students attending post-secondary education in the province will hopefully feel safer when on campus.

The Manitoba Government has proposed changes to the Advanced Education Administration Act focused on responding to incidents of sexual violence.

"Student safety is a top priority for our government,” says Advanced Education and Training Minister Renée Cable. “These changes ensure all post-secondary institutions in Manitoba are accountable and equipped with the tools to respond to and promptly address incidents of sexual violence on campus.”

Institutions would be required to share the results of their policy reviews available publicly in the interest of transparency. This would be in addition to the requirements to implement and regularly review sexual violence policies currently in place.

“It is heartening to see the Manitoba government propose to implement promising practices to address campus sexual violence,” notes Anoodth Naushan, interim CEO of Possibility Seeds. “These legislative changes would create opportunities for post-secondary institutions to work alongside students, survivors, faculty, staff and community organizations to collectively build safer campuses.”

The amendments would also allow the Advanced Education and Training Minister to reduce funding if an institution fails to meet the act's requirements.

See the full press release from the Government of Manitoba here.