About AVP

The Anti-Violence Project (AVP) is committed to addressing and ending gender-based and sexualized violence on campus and beyond.

We strive to provide anti-oppressive and sex-positive services, advocacy and action on-campus and off to people of all genders, in partnership and collaboration, in order to address and resist all intersecting forms of violence.

About us

Gender-based violence is an umbrella term for for any harmful act perpetrated against someone that is based on socially-ascribed gender “norms” or expectations based on what it means to be a “boy”, “girl”, “man” or “woman” or Two-Spirited, transgender, or gender-queer person or, someone who does not feel that they fit within definitions like “man” or “woman”. All other parts of a person’s identity or how someone is viewed, such as age, class, race, ability, geographic location, sexual orientation and status, intersect and influence how gender-based violence is experienced and committed. Examples of gender-based violence include: sexualized violence, sexual assault, transphobic violence, homophobic violence, street harassment and intimate partner violence.

We offer support services that strive to acknowledge all of the complexities of gender-based violence in a confidential and person-focused setting, to people of all genders who have experienced gender-based violence themselves, are supporting someone who has and to people who have committed harm and seek to change their actions. We have staff and a team of volunteers who are trained to provide emotional support and to connect people with relevant resources and referrals, including advocacy, community, counselling, health and/or legal resources.

You can access our services, regardless of your immigration status. We believe in access without fear and so will never ask your immigration/documentation status.

We also have a lending library available to anyone who is looking for resources about gender-based violence. We also provide free safer sex supplies in outside our office.

In addition, we offer a range of workshops and presentations and collaborate and partner with numerous events and campaigns throughout the year.

What we do at AVP

• We offer services to all people of all genders who have been impacted by gender-based violence, either by directly experiencing it, through causing harm to someone, or supporting or knowing someone who has experienced it
• We promote prevention through workshops, information, resources, education, events, materials and actions
• We have a library of resources available to anyone to take out and utilize
• We do a 40-hour volunteer training program every year for anyone interested in being part of the Anti-Violence Project team
• We promote an anti-oppressive approach to anti-violence work that seeks to recognize the interconnectedness of forms of violence and the different ways that gender-based violence manifests in society, based on various systemic and institutionalized forms of violence
• We promote a sex-positive standpoint in opposition to the unhealthy and violent portrayals of sex and sexuality
• We strive to recognize and honour resistance to violence in all of its forms
• We recognize the limitations of the current system and seek to support people to navigate through and make empowered decisions about their courses of action
• We work with people who have caused harm and are seeking to make reparations, become informed and change their harmful behaviour, as part of our work towards ending violence by working with people who have committed violence
• We recognize that much of the work we strive to do has been done by many people and communities for time immemorial and in many different ways