Consent is one of the main messages for a Timmins organization this month.
The City of Timmins has proclaimed May as Sexual Assault Prevention Month.
Throughout the month, Timmins and Area Women in Crisis programs and services manager Caroline Martel said they will be chalking messages for sexual assault survivors at different locations around the community.
“We’re just trying to break the stigma, get people to be talking about consent, showing solidarity for people who have experienced any kind of sexual violence and just being out there and making people aware that we’re here to support survivors if they need any type of support or advocacy that we’re available,” she said.
The first site for the empowering messages was city hall, and they'll be at the courthouse Thursday.
May 3 is also Wear Purple Friday, with Martel saying it's a way to show solidarity with survivors.
In collaboration with the Centre Passerelle pour femmes, the TAWC is also doing training with Timmins Police officers this month.
Timmins was chosen as one of the pilot project sites for sexual assault case reviews, said Martel.
“We go in every quarter and we meet with police services and look through all of their unfounded sexual assault cases and kind of give some feedback and work with the police to build a better system on the investigation procedure, whatever it may be,” she said.
So far, she said they've done two case, one in 2018 and one at the beginning of this year.
By opening up conversations around consent, Martel said the hope is to shift the culture.
"Currently we live in a rape culture, we want to shift to be more of a consent culture where consent is the norm,” she said.
She explained that means instead of teaching women about doing things to not get assaulted, the conversation should be about consent "so that women don’t have to live in fear and worry about their steps."
She suggests starting that talk early.
“We recommend having that conversation at a young age just because the more you teach it, the more normal it is and it’s easy to apply. So if you’re tickling someone, they say no, stop. No means no in every situation,” she said.
A full calendar of events for the month is available here.
- With files from RogersMedia
