A1-Global College – Ontario career college – Hamilton|Scarborough|Missisauga

Sexual Violence Policy

As of January 1, 2024:

Sexual Violence Policy
A1-Global College of Health, Business & Technology (hereinafter “The College”) is committed to providing its students with an educational environment free from sexual violence and treating its students who report incidents of sexual violence with dignity and respect. The College has adopted this Sexual Violence Policy, which defines sexual violence and outlines its training, reporting, investigative and disciplinary responses to complaints of sexual violence made by its students that have occurred on its campus, or at one of its events and involve its students. The person accused of engaging in sexual violence will be referred to as the “Respondent” and the person making the allegation as the “Complainant”.

Definition of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence means any sexual act or act targeting a person’s sexuality, gender identity or gender expression, whether the act is physical or psychological in nature, that is committed, threatened, or attempted against a person without the person’s consent, and includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, indecent exposure, voyeurism and sexual exploitation.

Training, Reporting and Responding to Sexual Violence
The College will include a copy of this Sexual Violence Policy in every contract made between it and its students, and provide a copy of this Sexual Violence Policy to the College’s management team (corporate directors, controlling shareholders, owners, partners, other persons who manage or direct the college’s affairs, and their agents), instructors, staff, other employees and contractors; and, train them about this policy and its processes of reporting, investigating and responding to complaints of sexual violence involving its students. Furthermore, any company participating in offering student internships on their premises must provide an undertaking in writing that it is following all applicable legislation, including the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Occupational Health and Safety Act and will provide students access to those policies should they encounter issues relating to sexual violence in the workplace.

This Sexual Violence Policy will be published on the College’s website, and a hard copy will be posted in a conspicuous location on each of its campuses.

The College’s management team, instructors, staff, other employees, and contractors of the College will report incidents of or complaints of sexual violence to the College’s Manager upon becoming aware of them.

Students who have been affected by sexual violence or who need information about support services should contact the College’s Manager:

Garima Chauhan, Tel.: (905) 672-2277, Email: [email protected]
Address: 2960 Drew Road, Unit 144, Mississauga, ON L4T-0A5

Subject to Section 4 below, to the extent it is possible, the College will attempt to keep all personal information of persons involved in the investigation confidential except in those circumstances where it believes an individual is at imminent risk of self-harm, or of harming another, or there are reasonable grounds to believe that others on its campus or the broader community are at risk. This will be done by:

  • ensuring that all complaints/reports and information gathered as a result of the complaint/reports will be only available to those who need to know for purposes of investigation, implementing safety measures and other circumstances that arise from any given case; and ensuring that the documentation is kept in a separate file from
    that of the Complainant/student or the Respondent.
  • The College recognizes the right of the Complainant not to report an incident of or make a complaint about sexual violence or not request an investigation and not to participate in any investigation that may occur. Notwithstanding (f), in certain circumstances, the College may be required by law or its internal policies to initiate
    an internal investigation and/or inform police without the complainant’s consent if it believes the safety of members of its campus or the broader community is at risk.
  • In all cases, including (f) above, the College will appropriately accommodate the needs of its students who are affected by sexual violence. Students seeking accommodation should contact the College’s Manager. In this regard, the College will assist students who have experienced sexual violence in obtaining counselling and medical
    care and provide them with information about sexual violence supports and services available in the community as set out in Appendix 1 attached hereto. Students are not required to file a formal complaint to access support
    and services.
  • Investigating Reports of Sexual Violence

Under this Sexual Violence Policy, any student at the College may file a report of an incident or a complaint to the College’s Manager in writing. The other official that will be involved in the investigation is the Campus Director.

Upon receipt of a report of an incident or a complaint of alleged sexual violence being made, the College’s Manager will respond promptly and:

  • determine whether an investigation should proceed and if the Complainant wishes to participate in an investigation.
  • determine who should conduct the investigation having regard to the seriousness of the allegation and the parties involved.
  • determine whether the incident should be referred immediately to the police; in such cases or where civil proceedings are commenced in respect of allegations of sexual violence, the College may conduct its own independent investigation and make its own determination in accordance with its own policies and procedures; and
  • determine what interim measures ought to be put in place pending the investigation process such as removal of the Respondent or seeking alternate methods of providing necessary course studies.

Once an investigation is initiated, the following will occur:

  • The Complainant and the Respondent will be advised that they may ask another person to be present throughout the investigation.
  • interviewing the Complainant to ensure a complete understanding of the allegation and gathering additional information that may not have been included in the written complaint such as the date and time of the incident, the persons involved, the names of any person who witnessed the incident and a complete description of what occurred.
  • informing and interviewing the Respondent of the complaint, providing details of the allegations and giving the Respondent an opportunity to respond to those allegations and to provide any witnesses the Respondent feels are essential to the investigation.
  • interviewing any person involved or who has, or may have, knowledge of the incident and any identified witnesses.
    • interviewing any person involved or who has, or may have, knowledge of the incident and any identified witnesses.
  • providing reasonable updates to the Complainant and the Respondent about the status of the investigation; and
  • following the investigation, the College’s Manager will:
    • review all the evidence collected during the investigation.
    • determine whether sexual violence occurred; and if so
    • Determine what disciplinary action, if any, should be taken as set out in Section 5 below.

Disciplinary Measures
(a) If it is determined by the College that the Respondent did engage in sexual violence, immediate disciplinary or corrective action will be taken. This may include:
disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment of instructors or staff; or
expulsion of a student; and /or the placement of certain restrictions on the Respondent’s ability to access certain premises or facilities; and/or any other actions that may be  appropriate in the circumstances.

Appeal
Should the Complainant or the Respondent not agree with the decision resulting from the investigation, he or she may appeal the decision to (the College’s Manager within (5) days by submitting a letter addressed to the College’s Manager advising of the person’s intent to appeal the decision.

Making False Statements
It is a violation of this Sexual Violence Policy for anyone to knowingly make a false complaint of sexual violence or to provide false information about a complaint.

Individuals who violate this Sexual Violence Policy are subject to disciplinary and / or corrective action up to and including termination of employment of instructors or staff or expulsion of a student.

Reprisal
It is a violation of this Sexual Violence Policy to retaliate or threaten to retaliate against a complainant who has brought forward a complaint of sexual violence, provided information related to a complaint, or otherwise been involved in the complaint investigation process.
Individuals who violate the Sexual Violence Policy are subject to disciplinary and /or corrective action, up to and including termination of employment of instructors or staff or expulsion of a student.

Review
The College will ensure that student input is considered in the development of this Sexual Violence Policy and every time it is reviewed or amended. The College will review this Sexual Violence Policy 3 years after it is first implemented and amend it where appropriate. The date of implementation is January 1, 2017.

Collection of Student Data
(a) The College will collect and be prepared to provide upon request by the Superintendent of Ontario Career Colleges such data and information as required according to Subsections 32.1 (8), (9), (10) and (11) of Schedule 5 of the Ontario Career
Colleges Act, 2005 as amended.

This template is intended to be a Sexual Violence and Harassment Policy Guideline and does not constitute legal advice

APPENDIX 1
The following is a list of Provincial and local Crisis Centers that could provide students with appropriate resources and information:

ONTARIO
Assaulted Women’s Helpline Toll Free: 1-866-863-0511
#SAFE (#7233) on Bell, Rogers, Fido, or TELUS mobile TTY: 416-364-8762
www.awhl.org
The Francophone helpline for women dealing with violence Telephone Toll-Free: 1-877-336-2433 ATS: 1 866 860-7082
www.femaide.ca

PEEL REGION
Hope 24/7 (formerly the Sexual Assault/Rape Crisis Centre of Peel) Crisis:1-800-810-0180 Office: (905) 792-0821 hope247.ca
Ontario Inter-Cultural Community Services Phone Number: 905-696-9963
Email: [email protected] www.oics.ca
Address:7060 Airport Road E Mississauga, ON, L4T 2G8

Family Services of Peel
Phone Numbers: 905-453-5775, 1-855-505-5205
(Only for the Support Services for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse program)
Email: [email protected] www.fspeel.org
Address: 151 City Centre Dr, Ste 501 Mississauga, ON, L5B 1M7

OAKVILLE
Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Services of Halton Crisis: 905-875-1555 or 1-877-268-8416
Office: 905-825-3622 www.savisofhalton.org

TORONTO
Oasis Centre des Femmes Téléphone : 416-591-6565
Courriel : [email protected] oasisfemmes.org
Toronto Rape Crisis Centre: Multicultural Women against Rape Crisis: 416-597-8808 Office: 416-597-1171
[email protected] [email protected] www.trccmwar.ca

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