Sexual Violence Awareness Week came and went at the University of Saskatchewan, but the message of bringing attention and justice to sexual violence will continue throughout the year.

From Sept. 21 to 25, the Online Speaker Series of SVAW 2020, hosted by U of S Students’ Union Women’s Centre, was “a successful event” with around 70 sign-ups, according to Tasnim Jaisee, the centre’s co-ordinator. According to a message from the Women’s Centre, the SVAW aims to create more space for discussions around sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

The awareness week may be over but Jaisee says that the work is not done.

“I want to continue having this energy towards holding perpetrators accountable, and bring justice,” Jaisee said. “These are ongoing goals that I want to accomplish through the centre.”

The Online Speaker Series tackled important topics each day of the week. Some of the topics included were recognizing sexual violence, trauma recovery, speaking up and bringing justice.

Aside from workshops, Jaisee says that the next big step for the Women’s Centre is having more conversations around topics related to the justice system. This will involve bringing in speakers knowledgeable about legal frameworks and changing the way the centre approaches their work.

“When students are dealing with the justice system they get a lot of mixed answers, and there are a lot of people who work a system-based approach rather than a survivor-based approach,” Jaisee said. “That is a route I want to seek and [I want to] do more research and have more resources for students to have access to.”

The centre wants to take it further with the goal of having a separate office dedicated to tackling sexual violence on campus. It is one of the biggest and most important goals in the Women’s Center’s horizon. Jaisee says that it is a goal she will be pushing for more during her term.

Jaisee says that there are other avenues to approaching this plan despite the temporary setbacks from the pandemic. She suggests having more support on sexual violence-reporting intakes and creating programming where students have more support during the intake process. 

The Women’s Centre will share information and resources from the SVAW 2020 Online Speaker Events in the next few weeks through a Google folder for those who weren’t able to attend or want to learn more about it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly been a barrier of in-person discussions at the centre. For this reason, Jaisee says that online platforms and services are more important than ever before to continue these conversations. 

For now, students can benefit from these online events and the centre’s social media platform designated for student discussion. The centre hopes Discord will create a wider sense of community to overcome the current barrier of limited in-person support and connection.

Jaisee reflects on the learning experience of having to use online platforms and hopes that the current innovations will still be useful once people are back on campus in a “better and positive manner”.

The USSU Women’s Centre offers support for survivors of sexual violence. To reach out to the Women’s Centre, email womens.centre@ussu.ca or call 306-966-6980. For the 24-hour Sexual Assault Crisis Line, phone 306-244-2224.

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Kristine Jones A. Del Socorro | Culture Editor