About C2AF
The Courage to Act Foundation (C2AF) is a national non-profit focused on addressing sexual and gender-based violence in Canadian post-secondary institutions. We collaborate with survivors, communities, governments, and public and private institutions to co-design supports, systems and strategies for safer, more inclusive campuses.
Our Story
The foundation is rooted in the 2018 Courage to Act report, which created the first Canadian framework to prevent gender-based violence on university and college campuses. The report was developed by systems change consultancy Possibility Seeds and funded by the federal department for Women and Gender Equality (WAGE). The Courage to Act project (2019-2023) was the first national initiative to address and prevent gender-based violence on Canadian campuses.
In 2023, the Courage to Act Foundation was established to expand upon this essential work with a focus on creating safer work and learning environments for women and gender-diverse learners in STEM experiential learning programs.
Why we do this work
We imagine and work toward environments where the following statistics are no longer prevalent in Canadian post-secondary spaces:
1 in 2 post-secondary students have been subjected to at least one instance of sexual harassment in internships, co-ops, and other experiential learning settings
71% of students either witnessed or were subjected to unwanted sexualized behaviours in a postsecondary setting.
1 in 10 women were subjected to sexual assault in a post-secondary setting
Women with disabilities are twice as likely as women without disabilities to have been sexually assaulted
47% of post-secondary students witnessed or were subjected to discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation in the past year
19% of women aged 15-64 reported they were subjected to at least one type of harassment in the workplace.
13% of men aged 15-64 reported they were subjected to at least one type of harassment in the workplace in the past 12 months (2020).
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1 in 2 post-secondary students have been subjected to at least one instance of sexual harassment in internships, co-ops, and other experiential learning settings (Possibility Seeds, 2023).
71% of students at Canadian postsecondary schools either witnessed or experienced unwanted sexualized behaviours in a postsecondary setting. (Burczycka, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, 2020, p. 3).
1 in 10 women experienced a sexual assault in a postsecondary setting during the previous year. (Burczycka, 2020, p. 3).
Women with disabilities are twice as likely as women without disabilities to have been sexually assaulted (DisAbled Women’s Network, 2019).
47% of students at Canadian post-secondary institutions witnessed or experienced discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity or sexual orientation in the past year. (Burczycka, 2020, p. 4).
19% of women aged 15-64 reported they experienced at least one type of harassment in the workplace in the last 12 months (Statistics Canada, 2018a).
13% of men aged 15-65 reported they experienced at least one type of harassment in the workplace in the past 12 months. (Statistics Canada, 2018a).
