In 1993, the Date Rape and Dating Violence Education Project (DRDV) and the UVic Women’s Centre submitted a proposal to the University to implement a full-time sexual assault officer. They were seeking space, funding, and administrative support for a campus-based sexual assault centre.

In January 1994 the UVSS allotted space in the SUB expansion for a Sexual Assault Centre and created a work study position with the DRDV. In order to acknowledge the importance of safety in the UVic community, the university created the position of the Personal Safety Officer within Campus Security.

In 1995, the DRDV completed the “Sexual Aggression and Aggression in Intimate Relationships Survey.” Its results revealed that 1 in 6 to 1 in 4 women will experience sexual assault while attending UVic. Acknowledging that the Victoria Women’s Sexual Assault Centre (VWSAC) was already providing excellent services to survivors of sexual violence, the Open UVic Resource Sexual Assault Centre (OUR–SAC) approached VWSAC in hopes of working together to provide services to an even greater population of survivors.

By the time OUR–SAC opened its doors Sept. of 1996, VWSAC and OUR–SAC had developed Recent Sexual Assault Protocol and a joint volunteer training program.

For the next two years, OUR–SAC was run by a small team of very dedicated (but over-worked) volunteers, with a nominal budget. In the Spring of 1998, OUR–SAC approached the UVSS to hold a student referendum asking for a fee increase of $2/student per term to fund OUR–SAC. The referendum passed by a significant margin, allowing OUR–SAC to hire a full-time Coordinator in August of 1998.

In August 2004, the volunteers and staff of OUR–SAC decided it was time for a name change. OUR–SAC became the Anti-Violence Project (AVP) – in order to make our support, education, information and advocacy services more accessible to survivors of all forms of violence.