UBCO campus excluded from UBC rape kit program

People who have been sexually assaulted can access forensic services on the UBC campus in Vancouver, but not in Kelowna.

The services include rape kits as well as emotional support services. According to a press release by Vancouver Coastal Health, the services are being offered in Vancouver at the UBC Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre, through the UBC Student Health Service, UBC Counselling Services and at the Sexual Assault Support Centre.

UBC will be the first university in the province to have sexual assault evidence collection kits, or rape kits, located on campus.

When KelownaNow reached out to the UBC Kelowna campus to see if these kits would be available in Kelowna, the answer was a brisk no.

“We do not have these kits on our campus and there is no one here who can speak to the issue,” Patty Wellborn, Assistant Communications Coordinator with UBCO, stated in an email.

Leslie Dickson, Associate Director at UBC, told KelownaNow that these kits were actually not available at a UBC centre, but at the hospital located on campus, which makes it Vancouver Coastal Health's decision to carry the kits, not the university's.

Dickson also stated that any questions regarding why forensic services for sexual assault survivors aren’t available at the Kelowna campus should be sent to Interior Health.

Tara Gostelow with Interior Health said that sexual assault evidence collection services do happen at Kelowna General Hospital. However, Gostelow said she hasn’t heard anything about what UBCO will be offering to students in regards to services in Kelowna.