It’s Consent Awareness Week and there’s a reason it’s held at this time of year. On Bayfm’s, “the Plain Truth,” the guest was Michelle Maloney who is the Violence Prevention and SARA Coordinator with the Corner Brook Status of Women Council. The week became a National initiative back in 2020 to run during the third week of September and Maloney says the first six weeks of the school year are known as the Red Zone, and is the time when the risk is the greatest for sexual assault. She says 50 percent of sexual assaults on campuses happen during this time.
Maloney says Grenfell campus has the MUN safe app and more to help students feel safe. She says this includes the “Walk Safe Program,” and Campus Enforcement has a member on their sexual assault response team.
Maloney says they visit schools and speak to grade 7 students about respect, boundaries and to consider body language. She says this includes tone of voice, how the person is responding, and sobriety. Maloney added that in NL it is illegal to share an intimate image of someone else.
Maloney says tomorrow night at the Rotary Arts Centre, they will host a viewing and panel discussion on the film, “Code of Misconduct”starting at 7 p.m. She says this investigative documentary is on the 2018 Canadian junior world hockey team sexual assault case and is the story of a 20 year old woman named, “Em” who waited seven years for a complete trial after two mistrials.
