Members of Town of Battleford Council listen to presentations. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

BASAC exemption

Sexual assault centre wants back in classrooms; asks Town of Battleford for letter of support

Nov 21, 2023 | 8:00 AM

The Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre (BASAC) is asking for a letter of support from the Town of Battleford for an exemption from the Parental Inclusion and Consent Policy and to be let back into the classrooms.

“We were brought into the classroom because there was a group of boys who were threatening to ‘Air rape’ the girls,” said Amber Stewart, BASAC executive director during her presentation to the council on Mon., Nov. 20.

She explained that for more than a year and a half, her team was called in to assist with students in Grade 5 and after an investigation, found the behaviour had come from the boys accessing the website PornHub.

“We’ve seen really dramatic increases in young, young children accessing pornography, because the internet is everywhere.”

After the Ministry of Education announced the new policy in August, school boards across the province were to “immediately pause involvement with any third-party organization,’ and as a result BASAC, which has been serving in the Battlefords area for 43 years, was no longer able to enter schools.

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While BASAC and similar organizations have been banned, Catholic Family Services were given an exemption and Stewart said both she and the City of North Battleford wrote to Jeremy Cockrill, minister of education and Battlefords MLA to allow the sexual assault centre the same privilege.

“We’ve had schools reach out to us and say in one of the high schools that the Grade 8 classroom – Grade 8 students – they’re experiencing a high volume of sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual violence,” said Stewart.

Prior to the announcement, schools would reach out to the organization and they would come in and give the students support. However, since they can no longer enter the schools, the educators are asking them how to help the students and Stewart said they have a group of boys at the moment who are banned from a local club for making threats to gang rape staff.

“The reason that I’m telling you this, is because this is what we are seeing: an increase in extremely violent sexual behaviour with nine to 12-year-old boys within the Battlefords.”

As a result, they are asking the council to support them by drawing up a letter on behalf of the Town to the Minister of Education to allow sexual assault centres to be allowed back in the schools to do their work – to which the council readily agreed.

Mayor Ames Leslie said everything he heard in Stewart’s presentation shocked him.

“I think anytime you hear of an influx of women being treated…worse than the human beings they are, it’s surprising in today’s world that that still happens – that women are subjected to these types of comments and sexualization,” he said.

“It’s almost angering at the same time; I think it was surprising the impact – how immediate the impact – of not having a third party available to address these and nip them as soon as they start to be of a concern is frankly – hopefully – something our provincial government can address sooner than later.”

Stewart made clear to the council that her organization focuses on child sexual abuse prevention and education rather than sexual health or identity and explained the process of how they work. They are asked to come, letters are sent out to the parents to offer them a chance to ask questions or voice concerns or even opt-out – the latter of which they’ve never had a parent do.

“Everything is age appropriate and specific to consent, understanding consent, boundaries, body safety, good touch, bad touch,” she said, noting any enquiries about sexual health get referred to Battleford Sexual Health Clinic.

“We have been in this community, doing this work for a long time in a dark corner that no one wanted to talk about because there was such a stigma to sexual violence.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @jls194864