Human Rights Office: General Information Menu: Report 2000-2001 / 2001-2002
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SECTION A: HIGHLIGHTS OF ACTIVITIES FOR 2000 – 2001 AND 2001 – 2002
2. Prevention programming
Our understanding in the area of sexual harassment has been evolving for over two decades. Thus, there exists a very well developed jurisprudence to assist advisors and administrators in responding to concerns brought forward by community members. Sexual harassment of women continues to represent the majority of reported cases and this is reflected in our “Sex by consent only” programming. However, increasing concerns in the area of peer harassment, centered around relationship issues, have motivated us to shift some programming efforts into the area of healthy relationships in the last few years. Thus, the Office offered financial assistance to reprint the pamphlet originally produced by Health, Counselling and Disability, entitled “Are you in a Healthy Relationships?” and its most recent “Sex by Consent” poster used the healthy relationship message.
The Office also developed a print resource entitled “Guidelines for Consent in Intimate Relationships” to be used primarily in conjunction with the Peer Educator Program on Sex, Intimacy and Dating, coordinated by the Residence Life and Human Rights Offices and delivered by students through the Residence Life programming.
In collaboration with Residence Life, the Office also developed a Peer Educator Program entitled “Healthy Relationships: Let’s Talk”. This program received positive recognition at the Residence Life Conference 2001 held at the University of Western Ontario.
The Office provided financial support to the Positive Space Program Committee (Ontario Public Interest Research Group, the Human Rights Office, Education on Queer Issues Project and Kingston Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-identified Association) to print a pamphlet explaining the program. The Program itself, whose goal is to bring visibility and support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities at Queen’s, continues to receive overwhelmingly support and participation from the community and presently has over to 200 members. The Committee also updated and reprinted the “Are you in a Healthy Relationship?” pamphlet for Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered Individuals.
During the period of this report, the Transgender/Transexual Policy Group, chaired by the Sexual and Gender Identity issues Coordinator has explored how services at Queen’s can ensure that they are inclusive and accessible to trans-identified members of the community. The Group also continued to work on its educational campaign: it published an information and resource pamphlet on trans issues, and offered a number of campus-wide training sessions.
The Anti-homophobia and Anti-heterosexism Coordinator function of the Office has evolved over the years to address a broader range of issues. In 2001-2002, the function was renamed Sexual and Gender Identity Issues Coordinator in order to reflect these changes. The information pamphlet that had been developed several years ago by the Office was also updated and reprinted.
Concerns expressed by international students with respect to questionable practices by some landlords in Kingston, led the International Housing Program Coordinator, the Town Gown Liaison and the Human Rights Office to collaborate on the development of a FAQ web site. The site offers clear information on the rights and responsibilities of international students seeking accommodation in Kingston while pursuing their studies at Queen’s.
The Office has continued to work collaboratively with the Black History Month Kingston Committee, to develop complementary programming at Queen’s and within the Kingston community for Black History Month. The Committee reported very successful programming for both the 200-2001 and the 2001-2002 periods.
The End to Hate Project has had some technical difficulties with its Web Site, but has remained active and is continuing to develop educational initiatives. Future directions include an exploration of how campus news media can be more aware of potential bias of minority groups in their publications.
The StopIt Program is a joint initiative of Information Technology Services, the Dean of Student Affairs, the Department of Security, and the Human Rights Office. It has been very successful in addressing incidents of e-mail harassment and reducing the numbers of cases, and each of the units involved remain committed to continuing the initiative.
For its 10th anniversary, the Office has introduced the Human Rights Initiatives Award. Its goal is to recognize initiatives that have advanced the cause of Human Rights in the community, as well as those individuals or departments who spend energy to see them succeed. The Queen’s Human Rights Advisory Committee will receive nominations from the community, and grant one on a yearly basis.
Informing the broader Queen’s community about human rights issues has always been one of the greatest challenges for the Office. This same challenge has been faced by the various other offices and committees that work in the area of equity on campus. Sharing the writing of an equity article column in the Gazette has been a productive first step toward this goal of keeping the community aware of new developments in the area.
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