On s’écoute: Concordia team takes aim at on-campus sexual violence

In Canada, over 70 per cent of students attending post-secondary schools witnessed unwanted sexualized behaviours, according to a 2020 report from Statistics Canada. The issue is prevalent but also taboo. 

“We had to react,” said filmmaker Léa Clermont-Dion. “It’s really important to sensitize people to this issue [and to spread the message] all around universities and colleges across Quebec.”

The On s’écoute project was launched at Concordia University’s downtown campus. The goal is to educate, hold space for people who’ve experienced sexual violence and let them share on their own terms. It’s part of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) .

The website hosts videos exploring the multitude of ways in which sexual violence arises such as relationships with authority figures, drugs and alcohol as well as racism and sexism. It’s available only in French for now, but they’re hoping that it will be translated into English once they receive the necessary government funding.

Clermont-Dion heads the project with Vivek Venkatesh. 

“Only 10 per cent of people who experience an act of sexual violence are prone to report it,” said Venkatesh, professor at Concordia University and UNESCO co-Chair in Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism. 

“This means that there’s a large group of people who are not reporting it,” he said. “There’s a sense of shame.”

A 2019 Statistics Canada report found that hesitancy to take legal action is commonplace for victims of sexual assault. Almost 60 per cent said they did not want the “hassle” of dealing with the police and over 40 per cent were deterred by the court process.

Clermont-Dion’s personal experience was a “major” reason that she started the project.

In 2008, at the age of 17, she was sexually assaulted by former journalist Michel Venne while interning at the Institut du nouveau monde.

“Without this experience I wouldn’t be there today to talk to you,” said Clermont-Dion. Although she now feels “empowered,” she also said that it has been “really difficult.”

“It’s not finished yet,“ she said, referring to the ongoing Quebec Court of Appeal proceedings. Venne is attempting to overturn his 2021 conviction of sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

“Education is the key [and] it can be slow and take time to change mentalities, but On s’écoute is a way to transform society,” said Clermont-Dion. “It’s insurance against the negative experience I had when I was a student… that’s the beauty of it.”