Virtual Library of Newspaper Articles

Help for 1st-generation college students

Canadian Press, KEITH LESLIE, Aug. 30, 2006

Young people in Ontario will be encouraged to become the first in their family to attend university or college under a $5-million program for so-called first-generation students, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced Wednesday.

The money will go to the post-secondary institutions and to church groups, cultural centres and other community-based organizations to help identify people who could be helped to return to college or university, or to become an apprentice.

"It's all about funding programs designed to reach out into the community and to lend a hand to first-generation students, and to provide them with the necessary encouragement and the necessary supports so that they can pursue their studies," McGuinty told students and staff at Seneca College in Toronto.

"It's more than just the right thing to do, it's a powerful economic strategy at the beginning of the 21st century in our knowledge-based economy."

Another $1 million in first-generation student bursaries, which the government estimates will help some 450 people in obtaining a higher education, will be made available for the new academic year.

"If you come from a family where one of the parents has gone on to post-secondary education or training, you're two-and-a-half times more likely to go on to that than if you didn't," said Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley.

Monique Huggins, a 26-year-old single mother, ended up on the honour roll after signing up for the Seneca Centre for Outreach Education program, (SCORE), a pilot program now being expanded across the province.

"If I can do it with three children as a single parent, (others) should be able to see that they can achieve the best also," Huggins said.

Patrick Tobias, 26, said he spent six years living on the streets of Toronto until he saw a poster for Seneca's SCORE program, and decided to turn his life around by getting off welfare and going to college.

"A lot of people, my mother, my family, they've all given me advice over the years, and I'm ashamed to say it took me so long until now to realize that, hey, there's only so much talk can do," Tobias said.

"Action speaks louder than words."

Seneca president Rick Miner said he considers the SCORE program an instant success.

"These kids are kids who thought 12 months ago they'd never do anything in education much less college, and some plan to go on to university," Miner said.

McGuinty said getting people like Huggins and Tobias into higher education doesn't just help them and their families, but also provides a benefit to society at large down the road.

"It's a matter of enlightened self-interest to ensure that these young people achieve their greatest potential."

The New Democrats accused the Liberal government of using the program to distract attention from the fact it is allowing tuition fees to rise by four per cent a year after lifting a two-year freeze.

But Miner said he believes most students will be able to manage the higher fees, which amount to about $80 a year on Seneca's $2,100 tuition.

"It's not a big deal because for a lot of these students because we give them jobs on campus," said Miner.

Ontario urged to help male victims of sex abuse

The Globe and Mail
March 7, 2005

Ontario's male victims of child sexual assault are being ignored by a provincial government that focuses all its attention on women, a newly launched lobby group that wants equitable funding argued Monday.

The group the Ontario Association of Male Survivor Services says that one man in five was sexually abused as a child and that ignoring the problem makes it harder for these men to recover.

"We've got to stop thinking that sexual violence is just a women's issue," said Rick Goodwin, executive director of the not-profit organization that will operate the lobby group, in a telephone interview from Ottawa. "In this day and age, that's absurd.".

Correctional Services Canada
Service correctionnel du Canada

Female Sex Offenders in the Correctional Service of Canada, Case Studies

Délinquantes sexuelles sous la responsabilité du Service correctionnel du Canada, études de cas

LITERATURE REVIEW ON FEMALE SEX OFFENDERS

Although there is an increasing literature on male sex offenders, there is a noticeable dearth of information concerning female sex offenders. Most of the work in the area has come from three of the largest prison programs for female sex offenders in Missouri, Minnesota, and Kentucky.

OVERALL NEGLECT OF FEMALE SEXUAL OFFENCES

For a variety of societal reasons, female sexual abuse is likely to remain unnoticed. Some researchers have found that the incidence of sexual contact with boys by women is much Read More ..evalent than is contended in the clinical literature (Condy, Templer Brown & Veaco, 1987). Despite society's increasing concern about sexual assault, there may be several reasons for the under-reporting of female sexual abuse of both child and adult victims. Traditionally, society has held preconceptions of women as non-violent nurturers. Women in general, and mothers Read More ..ecifically, have Read More ..eedom than men to touch children (Marvasti, 1986). Therefore, a man may be Read More ..sily perceived as abusive when touching a child than when a woman touches a child in a similar manner (Plummer, 1981). Further, sexual offences perpetrated by women are often incestuous in nature and children may be reluctant to report sexual contact with a parent on whom they are dependent (Groth, 1979). Health care workers are often unable to detect mother-child incest as mothers often accompany their children to the doctor's office. This may serve as a barrier to detecting sexual abuse of the child (Elliott & Peterson, 1993). The medical profession is only reluctantly becoming sensitive to the fact that females can, in fact, be perpetrators of sexual abuse (Wilkins, 1990; Krug, 1989).

EXAMEN DE LA DOCUMENTATION SUR LES DÉLINQUANTES SEXUELLES

La documentation sur les délinquants sexuels s'accroît alors que l'information sur les délinquantes sexuelles est clairement déficiente. La plupart des travaux en ce domaine proviennent de trois des programmes les plus importants établis pour les délinquantes sexuelles au Missouri, au Minnesota et au Kentucky.

DÉSINTÉRESSEMENT GÉNÉRAL À L'ÉGARD DES INFRACTIONS SEXUELLES COMMISES PAR DES FEMMES

Pour diverses raisons sociales, les mauvais traitements sexuels infligés par les femmes demeurent généralement cachés. Certains chercheurs ont découvert que l'incidence des contacts sexuels entre des femmes et des garçons est beaucoup plus élevée que ne l'estime la documentation clinique (Condy, Templer Brown et Veaco, 1987). En dépit du fait que la société se préoccupe de plus en plus de l'agression sexuelle, plusieurs raisons pourraient faire que l'on parle moins des cas de mauvais traitements sexuels infligés par des femmes à des enfants ou à des adultes. La société a toujours perçu les femmes comme des nourricières non violentes. Les femmes en général, et surtout les mères, ont plus de latitude pour toucher les enfants que les hommes (Marvasti, 1986). Par conséquent, un homme qui touche un enfant de la même manière que le fait une femme peut être plus facilement perçu comme un agresseur (Plummer, 1981). En outre, les infractions sexuelles commises par des femmes sont souvent de nature incestueuse et les enfants peuvent hésiter à dénoncer un contact sexuel avec un parent dont ils dépendent (Groth, 1979). Les travailleurs du domaine de la santé sont souvent incapables de déceler les cas d'inceste entre l'enfant et la mère car cette dernière accompagne souvent l'enfant au bureau du médecin. Cela peut empêcher de dépister les mauvais traitements sexuels infligés à l'enfant (Elliott et Peterson, 1993). La profession médicale prend à contrecoeur conscience du fait que les femmes peuvent en fait infliger de mauvais traitements sexuels. (Wilkins, 1990; Krug, 1989). Read More ..

U.S.A. Department of Education

Educator Sexual Misconduct:
A Synthesis of Existing Literature

Prepared for the U.S. Department of Education

Office of the Under Secretary

Policy and Program Studies Service

U.S. Department of Education
Statistics
Sexual Assaults by teachers on students

Treatment for Male Survivors of Sexual Violence

Ontario-wide strategy needed for male sex abuse victims, inquiry told

Canadian Press
February 27, 2009

CORNWALL, Ont. - Male victims of childhood sexual abuse need specialized support services and a provincial ombudsman dedicated to their plight, the Cornwall inquiry heard Friday as the $40-million probe drew to a close after three years of testimony.

The inquiry, established to examine institutional responses to allegations of sexual abuse in eastern Ontario, spent the majority of its final week hearing submissions dealing with allegations that a pedophile clan operated with impunity in the city for decades.

Lawyers at the inquiry cast the clan stories as fabrications spread by a misguided police officer and embraced by a panic-stricken community.

On Friday, the submissions focused on healing and reconciliation for the community and victims.

Following a complaint in 1992 that a former altar boy had been sexually abused by a priest and a probation officer, many others came forward to allege they had also been abused by prominent people decades ago.

Many of those complainants were men, and a lawyer for the counselling group The Men's Project said even though there were a lot of community services in the city at the time, none could adequately handle men's counselling.

"In fact, they had to bring in my client from Ottawa because they were the only ones with expertise to deal with this," David Bennett told the inquiry.

"Even though there were existing social services they just weren't able to deal with it and (that's) why there needs to be a specialized area."

Both The Men's Project and the Victims Group urged the commissioner to recommend that the Ontario government create victim treatment service centres for male survivors of sexual abuse province wide.

Both groups also called for the province to create a sex abuse ombudsman.

"There has been a theme from survivors of not being believed, getting the run-around, being kept in the dark, which for some had the effect of re-victimization," the Men's Project said in its written submissions. "An ombudsman could rectify this."

In addition, the government needs to remedy how treatment for sexual abuse victims is funded, the Men's Project said. Read More ..