Sexual violence | The festival action plan

Allegations of GHB poisoning at the Festi-Plage in Cap-d’Espoir last year in Gaspésie rocked festivals across Quebec. They have also served as a spark plug: while the services have been established for several years in Montreal, the festive community in the region is mobilizing to support victims of sexual assault and harassment.

A pilot project, Festif & Safe, has for example been created to support the festivals of Gaspésie. The BleuBleu festival, in Carleton-sur-Mer, which ended on June 25, was the first to welcome workers from the center for help and the fight against sexual assault (CALACS) La Bôme- Gaspésie, linked by the project.

” Festival-goers were happy to see a team on the ground since they remembered the allegations from last year,” said Sara Ternoir, from the Table de concertation des groupe de femmes de la Gaspésie et des Îles-de-la -Madeleine, who is behind Festif & Safe.

The Festi-Plage de Cap-d’Espoir, which begins on July 26 in Percé, will be the next to participate in the Table de concertation project. Last year, several participants said they had been assaulted and drugged against their will on the sidelines of the festival. Complaints had been made to the Sûreté du Québec, which investigated the allegations. “It’s really important that these are collective measures and not victimizing or individual measures only”, believes Sara Ternoir. It is a question of identifying resources in the field and in the organization of events “rather than saying: check your drink all evening”, she adds.

“We are in a movement. We are far from being the only ones, ”she says. CALACS will also be present for the first year at the Festif! of Baie-Saint-Paul, which begins on July 20. It was also the allegations in Cap-d’Espoir, last year, which accelerated the establishment of resources on the ground, indicates the director general, Clément Turgeon. “We wanted to take the lead”, he says, well aware that the task is not easy for all the festivals which do not necessarily have this “reflex”.

Like other events in Quebec, the festival already had its “comfort zone” on the site, where there are organizations working to prevent alcohol and drug consumption. This space can now be used by people who have felt targeted by sexual violence, ie psychological or physical gestures of a sexual nature, which are carried out against someone without their consent. They can take many forms, such as harassment, voyeurism and sexual assault.

In the hands of festivals and leaders

The challenge will be the sustainability of these safe spaces and long-term prevention, according to Sara Ternoir. This is an opinion shared by Jordanne Blais-Rochefort, one of the co-founders of the organization Scène & Sauve: “Our biggest dream is to stop existing. »

In addition to having workers present on the ground during events, Scène & Sauve also supports organizations in the prevention of sexual violence. The project came about after two female students used to attending festivals, “alarmed by the lack of resources”, grew tired of having no one to turn to when acts of sexual assault were committed against them.

“We decided to be the solution,” she adds. Scène & Sauve first started to intervene in student parties such as initiations, and for the summer it joins Aire commune in Montreal, which hosts events all summer long. Aire commune did not have a sexual violence prevention policy before the arrival of Scène & Sauve. “Scène & Sauve also came to train our employees. That way, everyone, the server behind the bar, the busboy, is an active witness and can be an ally,” explains Marie-Pier Tessier of L’étoile, co-founder and general manager of Aire commune.

The two women hope that their pilot project will inspire other actors in the field to get their hands dirty. However, it will have to be a collective work, and that it includes a multitude of actors from Quebec society, underlines Patrick Kearney, of the Regrouping of independent regional artistic festivals (REFRAIN). Festivals can have measures in place to be ready when GHB poisonings do occur, but the government must also be on hand when it comes to prevention, he adds.

Sara Ternoir is of the same opinion: “Our objective is also to put the responsibility not only in the hands of the festivals, but in the hands of our political decision-makers. She would like to sit down with the municipalities so that the new festivals that are set up have measures to prevent sexual violence.

A movement already launched in Montreal

A report by the Conseil des Montréalaises published in 2018 had a snowball effect in Montreal. Since then, the major festivals in the metropolis have set up intervention brigades visible on the ground.

According to this report, the lack of obvious possibility to call for help is the first source of insecurity among women during an outdoor festive event.

Also according to the document, 56.4% of respondents said they had experienced at least one assault or form of harassment, a number that increases for those aged 14 to 24 and for people who identify with LBTQ+ communities.

During the Francos, which ended on June 17, the brigade of interveners dressed in pink, the Hirondelles, was present on the ground. It is not in vain: an intervention would have taken place once every two days, according to Alain Simoneau, director of security for Groupe CH, which brings together most of the major Montreal festivals under the banner of evenko.

Les Hirondelles will tour the festivals overseen by the largest event organization in Montreal. After the Francos, the Montreal International Jazz Festival welcomes them, then Just for Laughs, before their migration to Parc Jean-Drapeau, where Osheaga and Île Soniq will take place.

For those who have not already followed suit, Alain Simoneau is categorical: “There is no reason not to set up services like these. »