The fight against sexual abuse continues.
Martina Saunders was a teenager when she became a victim of sexual violence. The woman admitted that decades had passed before she was able to recover.
Precisely because of such a long recovery process, Martina could not pass by and gave a speech on this topic.
"I've gone through different healing journeys," said Saunders. "It's helped me to come to terms with what I went through and I'm still learning about it."
More than 50 people of different sexes took part in the discussion. They expressed their opinions and shared their experiences. The event was titled Take Note and it was organized by the U of W Students' Union.
UWSU vice-president Jade DeFehr said that cases of sexual violence continue to occur, and not all of them become known to the public.
"It's always a good time to have those conversations, " he said. "One thing that really stayed with me is just the importance of listening to people when they disclose something that they've gone through of that nature. Not being too quick to interject your own opinion or to push someone in one way or another in terms of how they hope to move forward."
Megan Linton, the representative of Sexuality and Disability Manitoba, said that thanks to the #metoo movement now many have decided to talk about this problem, women are not afraid to speak.
"I think we think that the conversation is done but it's really just beginning and we're beginning to unravel our impacts," she said.
"It's not my problem. It's our problem and we need to be working together," the woman added. "We've really put the ownership on women and trans folks to be able to be holding that narrative. But I think in the end, really, it also has to be a shared experience and men need to be doing work because we're tired."
At the moment, it was decided to allocate more resources to the northern regions of the province. In cities like Winnipeg, women know where to go and how to get the help they need. In more remote regions, there are very few such places or none at all.