Vancouver launches pilot project to address sexual harassment at bars
The City of Vancouver has launched a pilot undertaking to handle sexual violence within the hospitality and repair industries.
The Last Call Pilot Project — led by the non-profit Good Night Out — will work with six institutions to create a extra inclusive night-life house for girls and gender-diverse folks.
“We want to see an industry that is thriving and accessible and safe for people to work and socialize in,” stated Stacey Forrester, the co-founder and schooling director of Good Night Out Vancouver.
Six institutions all through town, together with Donnellan’s Irish Pub, Greta and Parallel 49 Brewing Company, will likely be a part of it.
Forrester instructed CTV News that over the following 12 months, the companies will obtain coaching to handle gender-based violence in addition to entry to an app referred to as #NotMe to report harassment anonymously.
“The awareness that an establishment cares about your safety in a really deep and meaningful way beyond you know, a poster, in a way that is really baked into the culture from both a worker perspective and a customer perspective — having it really publicly known what their commitments are, I think will help draw people to these spaces,” Forrester stated.
In a news launch, Tracey Martin, the folks and tradition supervisor of Parallel 49 Brewing Company, stated the coaching supplied by Good Night Out empowers workers to create a tradition of security and respect.
“By teaching and practicing bystander intervention, they also equip staff with the skills needed to recognize and respond to potentially dangerous situations, helping to ensure that our brewery is a safe space for everyone who walks through the door,” Martin stated within the launch.
Forrester stated the concept for the undertaking got here just a few years in the past when some members of Vancouver’s hospitality business spoke publicly about their experiences of sexual assault, prompting town to take a look at what it might do.
Once the year-long undertaking finishes subsequent March, Forrester is hoping it is going to be replicated or prolonged.
“We’re really hoping to model for the rest of the city and other municipalities that addressing gender-based and sexualized violence, it takes a community approach,” she stated.
