Past Projects
We are proud to have been a part of many impactful and groundbreaking programs over the years.
Read about our work and how we’ve made a real difference in our communities.
Building Capacity Through Partnership
Building awareness and learning how to respond to Child Sexual Abuse and Sexaul Assault in the Sikh community
Building Capacity through Partnership was a collaboration project between CCASA, the Canadian Sikh Network (CSN) and Punjabi Community Health Services (PCHS) in Ontario. The purpose of the project was to:
- Raise awareness about child sexual abuse and sexual assault in the Sikh community
- Build organizational and community capacity against child sexual abuse
- Educate the Indo-Canadian community about child sexual abuse
This partnership originated when CCASA was approached by provincial MLA, Manmeet Sign Bhullar, to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and sexual assault in Indo-Canadian communities. The concerns arose from the alarming statistics surrounding the large number of children, adolescents and adults who experienced sexual violence in India.
The Indo-Canadian community is aware that sexual violence does not end once families immigrate to Canada and know that there is a need to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and sexual violence in their communities here. CCASA, Canadian Sikh Network and Punjabi Community Health Services worked together to break the silence around child sexual abuse and sexual assault in the Indo-Canadian community in Calgary.
CCASA’s Role
Through this partnership, CCASA created a poster campaign and brochures, provided public education, and sponsored videos for the newly formed Punjabi Community Health Services Calgary which CCASA’s CEO was a founding board member. The community saw an increased ability of their community to seek health services, increasing knowledge and understanding of the issue and were able to better support people impacted by sexual violence.
Youth4Change
Youth 4 Change (2009-2013) was a summer initiative with the aim of engaging youth to increase awareness of sexual violence among their peer groups.
Through community events and raising awareness initiatives over the four summers, they worked to empower youth to make a difference in their peer circles and communities by changing the culture that allows sexual violence to occur.
Youth 4 Change launched a youth-directed website with the goal of engaging youth around the issues of sexual violence and empowering them to create positive changes in their communities.
CCASA’s Role
CCASA employed this team of young people and supported them to work on various projects to increase awareness of sexual violence and ways they could create positive changes in their community. Projects included poster campaigns, website development and the launch of a men’s engagement program.
Sexual Assault Voices of Calgary (SAVCalgary)
The Sexual Assault Voices of Calgary was a broad based coalition of front line organizations, non-profits, Alberta Health Services, and the Calgary Police Service who share a common vision to reduce the number of sexual assaults in Calgary and its surrounding area by reaching out to and targeting those who commit them – sexual assault offenders themselves. CCASA was one of the founding partner organizations within this collaboration.One of the projects that SAVCalgary worked on was the “Don’t Be That Guy” Campaign which was created by the SAVEdmonton group and gave us permission to utilize their concept and materials.
The Don’t Be That Guy campaign ran from 2009 to 2013 and aimed to raise awareness about sexual violence, challenge myths and victim-blaming. This campaign seeks to engage men in this important and necessary conversation.
This campaign started a conversation on how to get involved and be part of the solution to ending sexual violence. Sexual violence is not just a women’s issue – its a human rights issue. The program challenged common myths related to physical violence, strangers, and relationships, and showed the uncomfortable realities of sexual violence.
Most men will never commit a crime of sexual assault in their lifetime, yet the vast majority of sexual assault offenses are committed by men. 2007 Statistics Canada reported that 97% of all sexual assault offenders were men. We realize that sexual assault is a crime that can happen to any one of any gender, race, age, socioeconomic background etc, and that an offender is not characterized by being male – that women offend too. But we also realize that only 3% of sexual assault offenders are female and as such are not targeting that gender on offender accountability in this campaign.
CCASA’s Role
CCASA is one of the founding partner organizations within this collaboration. CCASA worked to provide leadership and accurate information about sexual violence. CCASA worked collaboratively to develop the campaign strategy, imaging and messaging.
