The Consent Project

Project Summary

The Consent Project is a public legal education initiative targeted at students grades 8 – 12. The project focuses on consent education and the legal and practical issues surrounding consent, sexual activity, and sexual assault. The workshops are designed to help students understand their rights and responsibilities with respect to sexuality and consent, particularly when it comes to their intimate relationships. Topics covered include: the meaning of consent, the Criminal Code as it applies to consent, a discussion of the sexual activities that require consent, sexting, and child pornography.

Each workshop is aimed to achieve three key learning objectives:
1. To help students understand the legislation and case law surrounding sexuality and consent;
2. To ensure students understand the nature of the legal consequences of engaging in certain sexuality centered activities, such as sexting; and
3. To help students recognize consent and identify strategies for obtaining consent prior to engaging in sexual relationships or activities.

“My interest in the Consent Project stems from the importance of the message and the immediate impact we can make. Over the course of an hour-long presentation, it’s extremely heartening to see these students engage with the topic of consent, ask questions, learn, and perhaps challenge some preconceptions that they had about what ‘consent’ means in terms of the law, and practically, in Canada.”

Coltyn Herman
Project Lead 2019-2021

“When I was in high school, I received no information on sexual education, consent, or sexual assault law, not even abstinence, nothing. That was only a few years ago, and I believe there are still many students lacking the same basic information. When I’m presenting, I can see the light turn on in the back of our student’s minds when they realize how it applies to them. Youth need to know these things; they need to know how their personal choices interact with the law. We cannot expect our society to follow laws if we do not teach them.”

Shayla Klein
Project Lead 2019-2021

Number of Students and Prerequisites

– 15 student volunteers
– 2 project leads
– 1Ls are strongly encouraged to apply
– No prerequisites required
– Experience working with children, teens, or in an educative role is an asset, but not required

Area of Law

– Criminal Law
– Internet Law

Legal Skills

– Delivery of legal information
– Public speaking skills
– Legal research and writing

Project Type

Public Legal Education

Time Commitment

The number of presentations conducted between October to March will be determined by the Project Leads in September and throughout the school year. Project Leads will aim to have each student volunteer present 2- 3 sessions per semester. The virtual or in person presentations will be led by two law students. Each virtual presentation will be no more than 1 hour in length.

Volunteers will be required to follow the script, which has been approved by the Lawyer Supervisor (detailed in the risk mitigation section below). In addition to presenting the workshops to students virtually, volunteers will be required to run through a practice the presentation in front of the Project Leads before their first presentation, review the interactive scenarios, be prepared to lead the students through the scenarios, and to ensure that the presentation remains up-to-date by monitoring the current state of the law regarding sexual assault cases and consent.

Student volunteers on this project are expected to volunteer from October to March (excluding December). PBSC students are expected to volunteer 3-5 hours per week. Additional hours are at the students’ discretion. Overall, all PBSC projects are easily manageable alongside academic demands.

Required Training

All training for this project is schedule and provided by PBSC Calgary. This training will take place in September-October, and will not conflict with students’ course schedules.

The following PBSC training sessions are mandatory to volunteer on this project:
– PBSC Process Overview
– PBSC Ethics and Professional Responsibility Training
– PBSC Anti-Oppression Training
– WestLaw Research Strategies Training
– Sexual Violence and Responding to Disclosures, presented by Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse (CCASA)
– 1 hour Criminal Law project training

Specific dates and times will be provided once volunteers are placed on their respective projects.

How to Apply?

Applications for the 2023/2024 are currently open! Please fill out the Google Form linked below.