Addressing Sexual Violence on New Brunswick Campuses

The young, bright and capable young women who attend our universities and colleges in the province should expect to be supported by the institutions they pay tuition to if sexual assault happens to them. This has been a problem many young women have spoken out about in recent months. I have heard them and I believe them as their minister responsible for women’s equality.

This week in the Legislature I announced a roundtable that will bring together students, institutions, supports and government to push the door wide open on this necessary conversation. We must absolutely do better. Our sons and daughters deserve better, and as parents we need to know when we drop our children off on campus and drive away that they will be safe. But if bad things happen, we also need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will be supported by the institution as they navigate the devastation they are facing. Survivors should never be told by an institution not to talk about it, and when someone is convicted of these crimes they should not get to return to class alongside the person they harmed.