Marie-Vincent Submits a Brief and Reaffirms Its Concerns

Drawing on its role as an expert on issues of sexual violence against youth for the past 50 years, the Marie-Vincent team shared its observations and put forward recommendations to inform the thinking around the future government action plan.

“We are delighted by this opportunity to share what we have observed in the field. Together with its partners, Marie-Vincent has long supported victims of sexual exploitation, and it reassures us to see the government taking another step in the right direction to protect youth.”
— Vickie Gauthier Lefebvre, Project Manager and Trainer at Marie-Vincent, co-author of the brief on sexual exploitation

The six recommendations put forward are as follows:

1. Offer training to the community, police, school and health sectors to improve the identification of risks and the support provided to victims.
2. Improve access for frontline workers and professionals to concrete tools and tailored prevention programs.
3. Include the voices of youth in the process of developing prevention and intervention content and activities.
4. Make permanent and expand throughout Quebec the specialized support services for victims of sexual exploitation, such as the Sphères project.
5. Set up sexual exploitation roundtables in every region and strengthen the coordination and funding of existing roundtables to ensure their sustainability.
6. Enhance and renew the global mission support program (PSOC) for organizations recognized in the area of sexual exploitation, in order to ensure the sustainability of existing projects.

Marie-Vincent provides essential services to hundreds of families affected by sexual violence each year and takes concrete action in prevention in order to weave a safety net for all youth in Quebec.

To this end, it works closely with an invaluable network of partners, government bodies and organizations in Quebec and Canada working in areas as sensitive as education, health and social services, the socio-legal field and the community sector.

It is, in fact, one of the founding members of the Child and Youth Advocacy Centres of Canada (CYAC) association, made up of some forty organizations across the country that coordinate their efforts and share their expertise.

It can also count on the Marie-Vincent Interuniversity Research Chair, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and has a major impact on the development of its practices and programs.

All of this work is now carried out under the leadership of Lisa Clowery, who took the helm of Marie-Vincent this past April. With more than 20 years of experience in the charitable and philanthropic sector, she is aware of how far we have come in half a century, and of what remains to be done. She brings a vision rooted in collaboration so that Marie-Vincent can stay attuned to new realities and continue to be there, through direct services and prevention, for all children in Quebec, francophone, anglophone and allophone alike.

“1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys report having experienced sexual violence before the age of 18. That is enormous, it is the tip of the iceberg, and yet it remains taboo. As a society, we have a responsibility to prevent, to train and to support. When tragedy strikes, when children go through the unimaginable, our team helps them rebuild their lives and keep dreaming. Our work is essential, and that is why it is vital to fund Marie-Vincent’s programs and the organizations that share its mission.”
— Lisa Clowery, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marie-Vincent