Safer Spaces Program

Our commitment 

Every Always Dale event is built on connection, care, and respect. Whether you are an attendee, volunteer, or staff member, you are part of creating an environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, and free to be themselves.
To support these values, we’ve implemented our Safer Spaces Program. This program helps set clear expectations within our community and and respond to incidents with care and intention.

Safer Spaces Team (Green vests)

Make a report

Need to report an incident from one of our events?

You can submit a confidential or non-confidential report through  REES (Respect, Educate, Empower Survivors), a secure online platform designed to support survivors in reporting incidents while ensuring their data remains safe. 
Make a report through REES here.
Please see the video to the right for detailed instructions on how to submit a report through the REES portal.

Our Safer Spaces Approach

01
A clear Code of Conduct that outlines expectations and boundaries.

02
A safety team that’s present, visible and ready to support attendees at events.

03
Access to REES, a secure online platform for confidential or non-confidential reporting and support.

Code of Conduct

Every Always Dale event is built on connection, care, and respect. Whether you are an attendee, volunteer, or staff member, you are part of creating an environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, and free to be themselves.
Be mindful and respectful.
  • Your words, actions, and presence shape the experience around you. Please be aware of how you move through the space and consider how others may feel. Honour the physical, emotional, and mental boundaries of the people around you.
Consent comes first.
  • Before engaging in any physical contact, always ask. A check-in like “Is this alright?” ensures everyone can enjoy the night with comfort and clarity.
We have a no tolerance policy at our events for any kind of:
  • Violence and intimidation: This includes behaviour involving physical force or the threat thereof, intended to cause harm. 
  • Discrimination: This includes the unfair or prejudicial treatment of anyone. 
  • Harassment: This includes behaviour that makes another person feel uncomfortable. 
  • Sexual assault: Canada has a broad definition of sexual assault. It includes all unwanted sexual activity, such as unwanted sexual grabbing, kissing, fondling and rape. 

    Accountability
    If someone is acting in a way that goes against this Code of Conduct, we reserve the right to remove them from the event. Our priority is the safety and well-being of our community.
    Thank you for helping create spaces where people feel connected, respected, and supported.

Safety team

Our events will be monitored by Safer Spaces Liaisons and Security, who will be on-site to monitor behaviour not aligned with the policy and support anyone in need. 
Event attendees are encouraged to talk to and report any experience related to harassment, violence, or discrimination or if someone is acting in a disrespectful manner to a Safer Spaces Liaison as soon as possible so that we can address them in a timely manner. 

Safer Spaces Liaisons (Green Vests)

The Safer Spaces Team is an internal safety team trained on consent and community support.

Security

The Security team is not part of our internal safety team, but we work closely with them to uphold our values at events. 

As always, in an emergency or in immediate danger, call 911.

REES 

Always Dale has partnered with REES (Respect, Educate, Empower Survivors) to provide online reporting for unwanted sexualized behaviours. REES allows event-goers, performers, staff and volunteers to Create a Record of the incident and share it with event organizers. REES also provides information about community-based resources such as sexual assault centres, healthcare and other support services.
REES is a secure, user-friendly online platform designed to support survivors in reporting incidents while ensuring their data remains safe. As an industry leader in trauma-informed reporting, REES allows individuals to create, revisit, and submit incident reports with ease.

What is consent?

It is everyone’s responsibility to get consent if they want to engage in any activity with another person. If you do not get consent, you are at risk of doing harm. You need to get consent for any contact or activity – not just sexual intercourse. This includes kissing, touching, dancing, following another person as well as sexual activity. Any form of sexual activity without her/his/their consent is sexual assault.
Check for enthusiastic consent before dancing with someone (See FRIES below). When someone says “no” to dance with you, you respect their choice. A yes to dancing is a yes to dancing, not to anything else. You need to ask again if you want to engage in anything else.  

FRIES

Planned Parenthood has created the acronym, FRIES, which makes it easier to remember the 5 key aspects of consent:

(F) Freely Given: Consenting is a choice made without pressure and in absence of the influence of drugs or alcohol. 
(R) Reversible: Anyone can change their mind about what they feel like doing, at any time.  
(I) Informed: You can only consent to something if you understand the full story. For instance, agreeing to sex with a condom but not using one is not consent. 
(E) Enthusiastic: Each person must agree with enthusiasm, not because they feel pressure. 
(S) Specific: Consent must be received for each specific activity. For instance, consent for dancing or kissing must be given separately.

Support outside Always Dale events

Klinic Community Health 

Klinic Community Health provides health-related services and resources such as medical care, counselling and education.
  • Klinic Sexual Assault Crisis Line: (204) 786-8631
  • Toll Free In Manitoba 1-888-292-7565

Distribution of information

To ensure that all event attendees are aware of our Safer Spaces Policy and how to report incidents, we will distribute the information through a variety of methods, including:
  • Social Media
    • Our Safer Spaces Policy is posted and pinned on our Instagram profile. 
  • Website
    • Our Safer Spaces Policy has a dedicated page on our website and includes our REES reporting system. 
  • Posters
    • Our code of conduct and incident reporting information are printed and posted throughout our events (at bar, in bathrooms, at entrance).
    • Includes a QR code to direct attendees to the Spacer Spaces webpage. 
  • Shared with Safer Spaces Policy staff.
    • Send directly to all staff and ensure they are aware.

Ongoing commitment

Always Dale is committed to continuously learning and doing the work to create an environment where our community can feel safe to express themselves at all of our events. 
 Our Safer Spaces Policy will be continuously reflected upon and updated.
 We appreciate all constructive feedback from the community. Please contact dale@alwaysdale.com

Internal procedures

This is a general guideline on how we manage our Safer Spaces Policy and intend to handle reporting. There may be situations where not every step can be followed.

Updating

The policy will continually be updated to reflect industry benchmarks. 

Safer Spaces Liaison Training

All Safer Spaces Liaisons have taken either Consent training with Consent at events, or the Calling all Crows online Here For The Music: Preventing Sexual Violence in Live Music training. They have read and uphold our Safer Spaces Policy, have completing REES training, and are briefed before each event.

Pre-event briefing

  • Walk-through of the reporting form; 
  • Ensuring each green vests have access to REES reporting platform; 
  • Walk-through of the FRIES consent model and;
  • Walk-through and confirming access to the Reprimand procedure; and 
  • The entire policy will be available to Safer Spaces Liaisons via Always Dale website. 

Briefing Security

The event security are not our staff, but it's important to us they align with our Safer Spaces Policy and work together with the Safer Spaces Liaisons. They will receive a briefing on our policy, and how we will manage an incident during our events. We do not have total control over venue security and their actions but are making an effort to work together to create a safer space.

Reporting to Safer Spaces Liaisons during the event:

This is the general guideline that Safer Space Liaisons are using to handle incidents during the event. There may be situations where not every step can be followed. 
  • Step 1: Begin by listening; ask what occurred?
  • Step 2: Ask if they need anything in that moment 
  • Step 3: Ask if they feel comfortable identifying the perpetrator. 
  • Step 4: Ask if they are okay if we ask security to remove the perpetrator from the event. 
  • Step 5: Help security identify the perpetrator. 
  • Step 6: Unless asked otherwise, security will remove the perpetrator from the event. 
    • Security will be expected to isolate the person from the crowd and remove them without using force. 
    • Security will be expected to explain what is happening while keeping anonymity of the person who reported the incident. 
  • Step 7: Safer Spaces Liaison will ask the person who reported the incident if they would like to go to a quieter space to document the incident. 
  • Step 8: Safer Spaces Liaison will lead the person to a quiet area and open the reporting platform. The Safer Spaces Liaison will fill out the form for the person. 
  • Step 9: Provide the person with additional support such as the Klinic.

Violations

Violations of the Code of Conduct will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis using a survivor led model. We will also lean on the expertise of community organizations for further clarity. 
In cases where appropriate: 
  • A three-month event ban will be implemented.
  • If a second violation occurs after the three-month ban or if they violate their ban period they will be permanently banned from future events.