By: Lisane Thirsk, Ottawa, Canada, SSH Correspondent
Following a sexual assault near a bus station in Ottawa, our transit company OC Transpo dragged its feet before commenting on the incident. This was exasperating, as repeated assurances by them that our transit system is safe have been ringing hollow to many of us, especially in light of other recent gender-based crimes, as well as these survey results from Hollaback! Ottawa.
The good news is that since the assault, OC Transpo announced a new transit safety plan. However, specific efforts to prevent harassment are still unclear, as is the extent of collaboration we can expect among city officials and the community organizations that have tirelessly advocated around this issue.
In the meantime, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on what an effective public education campaign against street harassment might look like here in Ottawa.
For those unfamiliar with Canada’s capital, you may be surprised to learn it’s small and relatively tranquil – not the characteristic bustling, overpopulated capital city. It’s the kind of place where I often bump into people I know, even though I haven’t lived here very long.
Ottawa is home to Parliament Hill and civil servants with a reputation for being obedient, conservative government employees. The city is considered “a nice place to raise kids” with vast green areas, good museums, and a lovely tulip festival.
Ottawans are required to have permits to do just about anything. And we’re generally the types to wait for the pedestrian light and cross at crosswalks.
To put it bluntly, we aren’t known for challenging the status quo. (However I happen to know enough local shit-disturbers to assure you the stereotype is far from reality!)
These narratives about Ottawa are in the background when we try to have conversations about street harassment.
It shouldn’t be hard to believe that Ottawa has “big city problems.” After all, street harassment happens everywhere there are streets, including small towns.
Most discouraging is that we are failing each other by remaining passive witnesses of this blatant violence. Many transit riders have reported to Hollaback! Ottawa that when they were harassed on a packed bus, no one bothered to help them.
Sadly, transit riders have also indicated that when facing harassment, they either wouldn’t consider it worthy of pushing the bus’ emergency button or worry about receiving a fine for activating the alarm.
From meetings I’ve attended, I know OC Transpo views this as a problem, as do women’s organizations. That’s why a public education campaign is crucial. And there’s reason to believe that a well-designed one would be effective.
I’ve repeatedly heard about a series of ads on buses featured a number of years ago, known as “Busology,” that many Ottawa residents remember fondly and want to see on buses again. They targeted common transit “incivilities” with messaging like:
Double, double, toil and trouble / Music blares and tempers bubble
O what a tangled web we weave / When by the forward door we leave
Other ads encouraged riders to set their backpacks on the floor to prevent bumping people, and to avoid wearing strong perfumes.
It seems there was a receptive audience for those simple ads discouraging behaviour that imposes on other people’s space and their ability to enjoy a peaceful bus ride.
Stereotypes about polite Canadians aside, it seems that what Ottawans need, far more than Bus Manners 101, is a campaign to identify street harassment and empower bystanders to do something about it.
It’s certainly incredible that riders need to be reminded to practice common courtesies like moving big bags away from doors so people can exit, or respecting Priority Seating areas. But it’s no less important to build a culture where everyday street harassment is not only considered socially unacceptable, but acknowledged as gender violence.
How disgraceful that a bus full of people will watch a man follow a woman from seat to seat or grope her as she tries to escape – and then look away, return to their books, glad it’s not them in that humiliating situation.
In those situations, wouldn’t it be great to see people taking up more room, making more noise? If it’s safe to do so, for example, drop a bag to create a distraction. Move next to the target. Speak up! (Check out these Badass Bystander Moves: direct, distract, delegate).
It’s not that this is unheard of in Ottawa – here’s an example of bystander intervention on the bus a few months ago.
But there’s something about Ottawa’s image that has played a part in delaying action, be it our supposedly “mild-mannered” nature, or our city’s beloved “safe” image.
Could we change our reputation in favour of the anti-street harassment cause? Use that small town feel to hold perpetrators accountable in Ottawa.
We need to dismantle the idea that things don’t need to be shaken up in Ottawa. Because we are not living in a safe city when sexual assaults occur on buses and at transit stops.
We can be that place where people don’t hesitate to take up more room when they witness gender violence. Hopefully city officials will have our backs now in this endeavor.
Lisane works in the non-profit communications sector and supports local anti-street harassment advocacy through Hollaback! Ottawa. In 2012, she completed a Master’s in Socio-Legal Studies at York University in Toronto, where she wrote her Major Research Paper on gender-based street harassment. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Spanish from the University of British Columbia
