Toronto group #AfterMeToo has partnered with The Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) to create a fund that will subsidize mental health care for survivors of workplace sexual violence in Canada.
Both group comprise of prominent females looking to end sexual violence, however, many of #AfterMeToo’s members are also actors and filmmakers.
Freya Ravensbergen is a co-founder of #AfterMeToo and believes that an additional support system is needed to care for sexual violence survivors from all Canadian workplaces.
“Since the AfterMeToo movement, the rape crisis lines and the mental healthcare services that are available to Canadian have been completely inundated and overloaded,” Ravensbergen told CTV News Channel on Thursday .
The subsidy was one of nine key recommendations that came forward in #AfterMeToo’s report on sexual violence in the workplace. The group compiled the report, titled #AfterMeToo, after two days’ worth of consultations form lawyers and therapists during a symposium last December.
The report also advocated for the creation of an independent national organization to address sexual violence and the investigation of historical cases of sexual violence.
The group says the $7 million fund is meant to be a stop-gap solution until established institutions become better equipped to handle the issue of workplace sexual violence. The group hopes to achieve the goal within six months.
“We’re attempting to put a little bit of a support system in place until government can catch up,” said Ravensbergen.
