Question Period Note: Supporting women’s shelters and sexual assault centres across Canada during COVID-19

What is the Government doing to support women’s shelters and sexual assault centres during the COVID-19 pandemic?

• The Government of Canada is taking strong and quick action to protect our economy, and the health, safety, and jobs of all Canadians during the global COVID-19 outbreak.

• Canadians have been urged to stay at home during this time. However, home is not a safe place for everyone. It is not a safe place for women or their children, who experience domestic or intimate partner violence. For them, being confined at home, isolated, in close contact with a violent partner can be a terrifying prospect.

• This is why the Government is investing to support women and children fleeing violence by providing up to $50 million to violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres to help with their capacity to manage or prevent an outbreak in their facilities. This includes funding for facilities in Indigenous communities.

• I am pleased to announce that, thanks to the work of our partners at Women’s Shelter Canada and the Canadian Women’s Foundation, these much needed resources are already flowing to organizations.

On March 18, 2020, the Prime Minister announced a new set of economic measures to help stabilize the economy and help Canadians affected by the impacts of this challenging period.

These measures, delivered as part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, will provide up to $27 billion in direct support to Canadian workers and businesses, plus $55 billion to meet liquidity needs of Canadian businesses and households through tax deferrals to help stabilize the economy. Combined, this $82 billion in support represents more than 3 per cent of Canada’s GDP. This wide-ranging support will help ensure Canadians can pay for rent and groceries, and help businesses continue to pay their employees and their bills during this time of uncertainty.

This support includes up to $50 million to violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres to help with their capacity to be first responders during the current health crisis, as well as to prevent outbreaks or manage them should they occur in their facilities. This includes funding for facilities in Indigenous communities.

Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) is receiving up to $40 million. Out of this amount, up to $30 million will address the immediate needs of violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres across the country. The funds will be distributed as follows:
• Up to $20.54 million to Women’s Shelters Canada (WSC) to distribute to over 430 violence against women shelters across the country (excluding Quebec, and Indigenous shelters funded by Indigenous Services Canada)
• Up to $3 million to the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) to distribute to over 90 sexual assault centres across the country (excluding Quebec).
• Up to $6.46 million to the Government of Quebec to distribute to violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres in the province.

In addition, up to $10 million will be provided to Indigenous Services Canada's (ISC) existing network of 46 emergency shelters on reserve and in Yukon to support Indigenous women and children fleeing violence.
• These new funds will flow directly to shelters and will provide them with additional operational funding to manage or prevent an outbreak in their facilities.
• The operational funding will be delivered through ISC’s Family Violence Prevention Program. The amount for each shelter will be determined based on factors such as on-reserve population, remoteness, and number of beds.

Of the funding provided to WSC and CWF, as of early May, 97% (423 of 434) of eligible shelters had received payment, for a total amount of $12,458,000; and 98% (89 of 91) of eligible sexual assault centres had received payment, for a total of $2,225,000.

Funding will be used to increase safety and emergency preparedness, and to support the ability of these organizations to serve women and their children, who experience violence.

In recent weeks, many places that women who experience violence would normally turn to, such as community centres, places of worship, or friends’ homes, are closed.

Shelters and sexual assault centres across the country need additional supplies and resources to prevent outbreaks. According to a recent CBC series, women and children are turned away from shelters in Canada about 19,000 times a month. These organizations do not have reserve funds to deal with unexpected situations, such as COVID-19.

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