Participants are seen at a community event outside Hagey Hall in Waterloo, Ont., June 29.Nicole Osborne/The Canadian Press
Student associations are demanding the Ontario government do more to address gender-based violence on post-secondary campuses in the wake of a triple stabbing at the University of Waterloo that police allege was motivated by hate.
Leaders of the University of Waterloo’s undergraduate student association and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance say they want the province to order universities to conduct to an annual safety assessment and create a trauma-informed training program for campus security, among other recommendations.
A University of Waterloo professor and two students were hospitalized after the late June stabbing at a gender studies class – police allege it was a planned act motivated by hate related to gender expression and gender identity.
Katie Traynor, vice-president of the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association, says the university’s response has been appreciated so far but more can be done.
She says that includes regularly engaging with students and groups that are amplifying the voices of marginalized individuals.
The university’s president and provost hosted community forums for staff and students today to hear their concerns in the weeks following the attack.
The Ontario government did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the student groups’ demands Monday afternoon.