Burnaby MLA Kathy Corrigan apologized for her tears when she stood up in the Legislature on May 10 to support a new bill calling on post-secondary institutions to have clear policies on handling sexual violence.
“Sorry, I didn’t know this was going to bother me,” she said, voice wavering. “See, it stays with you for a long time.”
Corrigan was sharing a personal story from her late teens, when she was a student at UBC. It was a beautiful day, and she decided to take a walk by herself to Tower Beach.
“There was nobody else on the beach, and suddenly there was a half-naked man running towards me, masturbating and chasing me. I was 17 or 18; I’m not sure. I was absolutely terrified,” she said.
Corrigan ran and found a couple who helped her, and the man ran off.
“I was not touched, but I was targeted, and I was a victim,” she said. “Every second of that incident stays in my mind today. There are those that experience far worse. I’m not trivializing any event of sexual violence, because you don’t know how it’s going to affect an individual. I looked at myself as a very strong and independent person, and I remembered that incident for the rest of my life, because I was terrified at the moment of what might happen.”
“I bet you every single woman will have stories that are similar to mine. It demonstrates how prevalent, how endemic, how common and how much a part of the experience of every woman - almost every woman - sexual assault is.”
The bill Corrigan stood to support came from Andrew Weaver, the lone Green MLA in the Legislature, and it’s a bill that received support from the premier herself. In an op-ed that ran in the Vancouver Sun last Thursday, Christy Clark shared her personal story of an incident while walking to work in Burnaby as a young teenager.
“A man suddenly jumped out, grabbed me and pulled me out of sight into a deep copse of shrubs,” she wrote. “He didn’t say anything. I don’t even remember what he looked like. I remember wondering where he had come from, and why I hadn’t seen him. And I remember being very scared.”
The man pulled Clark down a slope but seemed to lose his balance, and she escaped his grip and ran to work. She caught her breath, walked inside, put on her apron and never told anyone.
The Liberals built on Weaver’s bill and passed it on May 18. It is extremely rare for the sitting government to adopt a bill from the opposition, and it’s the first such instance in the Liberals’ 15-year reign.
But Corrigan’s support came with caveats. She made suggestions to change several aspects – toughening the language and extending it to private institutions, for example – but all of those amendments were rejected.
“I had real concerns about some aspects of the bill. We thought it was important to support it, but much more has to be done,” she said.
Weaver, the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, was in the Legislature when Corrigan shared her story.
“It was very clear to me that this was very personal for her,” he said. “A lot of people have stories; I have my own stories.”
When he was in kindergarten or Grade 1, his male babysitter took him for a walk in the woods, took his clothes off, exposing himself to Weaver. The babysitter said “if you tell anyone - ” then pulled out a knife and stabbed it into a tree stump.
Weaver said he’s never shared his story before, and the man, who he did not want to name, is now dead.
“It was terrifying while he was still living on that street, I lived in terror,” Weaver said. “When you are five or six, ... it does that, it kind of imprints. I remember that to this day.”
Weaver said there are stories like this throughout society, and that per capita, the transgender community faces the most violence, followed by women and then men.
“The fact the premier tells her story, Kathy Corrigan tells her story - we, as a society, must recognize that we do not tolerate sexualized violence, that the survivor is not the criminal,” Weaver said.
He also hopes his bill will leave a legacy with post-secondary institutions.
“I hope it empowers universities to do the right thing,” he said.
Background on the bill:
- Bill 23, the Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act, defines sexual misconduct as assault, exploitation or harassment - all of a sexual nature. The term also covers stalking, indecent exposure, voyeurism and distributing sexually explicit photos of people without their consent with intent to cause distress. Attempts or threats of sexual misconduct are also covered.
- The new law requires post-secondary institutions’ sexual misconduct policies cover making a complaint or report of sexual misconduct involving a student.
- Students are required to be part of the consultation process while developing the policies.
- The institutions must report back on their policies to the Advanced Education Ministry.
- Universities have a year to develop the new policies, but Weaver expects most will be ready by fall.
