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Mar 6, 2018

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#AfterMeToo Partners with Canadian Women's Foundation to Establish Fund for Sexual Support Services

Symposium Fund comes on the heels of recommendation report from #AFTERMETO. 

#AfterMeToo Partners with Canadian Women's Foundation to Establish Fund for Sexual Support Services

AFTERMETOO, in partnership with the Canadian Women’s Foundation, today announced the creation of a fund to address the increase in demand on sexual violence support services across Canada. In recent years - and especially since highly publicized movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp – more people have come forward to report sexual violence, and Canada’s already overwhelmed and underfunded sexual violence support services cannot keep up. Calls to the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre increased 100% in the last year alone, and that’s just one of many examples.
 
The AFTERMETOO Fund, with the goal of raising seven million dollars, will be administered by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and will fund organizations that provide supports like mental health services, hospital and court accompaniment, and long-term counselling. Organizations will be selected for funding based on criteria and availability of funds, in collaboration with a team of experts. Donations to the fund can be made online at aftermetoo.com or by texting AFTER to20222.
 
AFTERMETOO has also released a recommendation report on workplace reform related to sexual violence. This report was informed by recommendations from the AFTERMETOO Symposium held on December 5, 2017 in Toronto, in partnership with The Globe and Mail.
 
Key recommendation from the report include:

  • Create a fund to support counselling and legal advice for survivors in the industry;
  • Create an independent, national organization to address sexual violence in the industry;
  • Investigate cases of historical sexual violence in the industry;
  • Demand leadership accountability.
     

To read the full report, click here or visit aftermetoo.com.
 
Five of the AFTERMETOO Symposium roundtable videos are available on aftermetoo.com. Videos include in-depth conversations with actors Amanda Brugel and Kawennahere Devery Jacobs, as well as crew members and change makers.  The Symposium explored institutional culture, policy, and legislation in a number of roundtable working groups to find solutions that speak to current inadequate supports and protections against sexual assault and harassment within the workplace.  Participants came from a variety of occupations including actors, directors, producers, casting directors, writers, agents, unions, civil and criminal lawyers, trauma experts, economists and legislators. 
 
AFTERMETOO will also be present at this year's Canadian Screen Awards. In support of this movement and as a show of industry solidarity, an invitation has been extended to guests walking red carpets to wear AFTERMETOO pins.
 
ABOUT AFTERMETOO
Created in response to #MeToo by Aisling Chin-Yee, Mia Kirshner, and Freya Ravensbergen, AFTERMETOO is a national movement born within the Canadian film and television industry to activate change on sexual violence in Canada.  To learn more about AFTERMETOO and to donate to the fund, visit aftermetoo.com or by texting AFTER to 20222.
 
ABOUT THE CANADIAN WOMEN’S FOUNDATION
The Canadian Women’s Foundation is Canada’s public foundation for women and girls. They empower women and girls in Canada to move out of violence, out of poverty and into confidence. Since 1991, they’ve raised money and invested in over 1,500 community programs across Canada, and are one of the ten largest women’s foundations in the world.
 
The Canadian Women’s Foundation takes a positive approach to address the root causes of the most critical issues facing women and girls, and invests in carefully selected community programs that produce the strongest outcomes. They also study and share the best ways to create long-term change, and bring community organizations together for training and to learn from each other.
 
Helping women creates safer families and communities, and a more prosperous society for all of us.
 
For more information, please visit www.canadianwomen.org.

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