Grants and Contributions

This 22-month project will increase the availability of evidence in sexual assault cases, improve survivor awareness of documentation and reporting options, and increase front-line organizational capacity to offer trauma-informed and culturally safe support, including in low-resource settings. Through survivor and community engagement, and the support of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, the South Asian Women’s Centre and She Matters, the project will address gaps for Indigenous and underserved groups of survivors across Canada, specifically in British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

A key component of the project will be the development of Survivor and Organization Guides to support survivors in the immediate aftermath of sexual assault in a trauma-informed and safe way. Project partners, including survivors, legal and forensic experts, law enforcement, Indigenous and newcomer-serving organizations and community advocates, will be involved throughout the development of the Guides and related materials to ensure they are relevant, accessible, and responsive to the needs of the communities they serve.

With the supplemental funds and 12-month extension provided in early 2026, l’Anonyme will test intervention practices that are sensitive to the realities and experiences of Montreal youth who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and/or victimized, working with them to recognize and respond to their needs; organize, with young Montrealers who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and/or have been victimized, around 10 semi-closed group intervention activities that allow them to break out of isolation and strengthen their sense of belonging to a peer group; facilitate access to support for individuals vulnerable to sexual exploitation and/or victimized by creating a corridor of service with community and institutional organizations; disseminate the results and tools developed as part of the project to facilitate knowledge transfer within the GBV network; and assess the perceived abilities of the young people encountered to identify risky situations in the context of GBV and to make safe choices regarding intimacy and sexuality through promising practices. Through this, they will further advance gender equality.

Through this 11 month project, Hiatus House will scale a A Guide For Shelter Professionals Working With Survivors of Human Trafficking to strengthen the gender-based violence sector. It will scale to [insert to what level or population group you will scale the practice]. It will address persistent gaps in Canada’s human trafficking identification, prevention and response efforts at both systemic and frontline levels. To do so, the project will develop a coordinated national outreach and implementation framework to support effective dessimination, uptake and adaptation of the HT guidebook across the four regions. The guidebook will be translated into French and be delivered in collaboration with Official Languages Minority Communities (OLMCs). The project will also integrate Indigenous-led and culturally grounded approaches, informed by national engagement with Indigenous communities to support the guidebook adaptation and delivery. The guidebook will be made available online and iteratively refined thoughout the project to ensure it remains nationally adaptable, accessible and responsive to diverse needs. Finally, Hiatus House will mobilize knowledge through its networks to share information on the promising practice with others so that they may replicate it or expand upon it.

Through this 12-month project, The Hospital for Sick Children’s Lotus Health will scale their promising practices – pediatric health care program specializing in child sex trafficking and multisector community response protocol. They will scale to new populations and locations to strengthen the gender-based violence sector by (1) expanding services to children with neurodevelopmental disorders/disabilities and psychiatric complexity who have experienced sex trafficking and those at risk; and (2) assessing the need for and feasibility of adapting the community response protocol as an e-learning course to increase uptake. The Hospital for Sick Children’s Lotus Health will share information on their promising practices with others so that they may replicate them or expand upon them.

Through this 12-month project, SOAR will scale their promising practice of building the capacity of frontline service providers and survivors to recognize and respond to intimate partner violence-caused brain injuries (IPV-BI). This will be achieved through the training of a national cohort of frontline worker knowledge brokers to deliver IPV-BI training nationally, and through the adaptation of the ‘Support Group in a Box’ model for online peer support groups for IPV-BI survivors across Canada. The expected results are increased capacity of frontline workers in a greater number of service areas to recognize and respond to IPV-BI appropriately, improved resiliency and quality of life outcomes for participants, and a template of a model and materials that can be used by IPV and BI support groups across the country to run their own groups.

Through this 12-month project, the PEVC Institute will expand the Protecting Children Against Domestic Violence (PEVC) model in order to bolster the GBV sector. It will amplify this promising practice by including a specific component dedicated to intervention in immigration contexts or with racialized families for youth protection services across Quebec. The project will help professionals in the youth protection sector feel better equipped and more competent to intervene with immigrant or racialized families.

To achieve this, the project will include three key phases: the exploration phase, the development phase, and the implementation and evaluation phase. The exploration phase will consist of a literature review and consultation with partners and immigrant or racialized people who are victims of domestic violence in order to document the issues encountered and the needs of professionals in the field. The development phase will involve adapting and enhancing the content and tools of the PEVC model to better serve the project’s target population, as well as preparing the evaluation framework. The final implementation and evaluation phase will consist of making final adjustments to the tools before deploying the adapted material to youth protection professionals. The PEVC Institute will provide training content adapted to the reality of intervention in the context of domestic violence with immigrant or racialized families in order to inform trained professionals and project partners about the promising practice so they can reproduce or expand on it.

Through this 12-month project, Public Legal Information Association will scale the promising practice of delivering legal information, education, and navigation services in Labrador to address gaps in supports for underserved survivors of gender-based violence. This will be achieved by outreach and engagement, by collaborating with key partners and stakeholders and by providing legal information, supports and navigation to women Labradorians in remote coastal regions. This will enhance knowledge and collaboration among the community and stakeholders about legal options and processes and increase the ability for survivors of gender-based violence to access justice.

Through this 12-month project, the YWCA Montreal will expand the UNIQUE project in order to strengthen the GBV sector. It will amplify the promising practice at the heart of the structured multidisciplinary UNIQUE support program for women going through separation or divorce, a period recognized as a time of increased vulnerability. It will address the legal issues and challenges to accessing justice specifically faced by these women by promoting a better understanding of their rights. This will empower them in the context of separation or divorce so that they can navigate the legal system with greater clarity, confidence and security.

To achieve this, the project will include supporting two cohorts of participants through a course of 12 workshops in addition to providing intensive support spread over several weeks, combining thematic conferences, practical activities, discussion groups and regular follow-ups. In order to promote a safer and more autonomous transition to a new post-separation life stage, the new access to justice component will complement the five existing intervention components within the UNIQUE holistic model, namely 1) basic needs and social protection, 2) livelihoods and employability, 3) financial inclusion and personal finance management, 4) social empowerment and building relationships, and 5) health and physical and mental well-being.

The YWCA Montreal will make the various content related to the promising UNIQUE practice available online to professionals in the field to allow them to reproduce or amplify it.

Through this 12‑month project, the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association will lead a province‑wide, culturally grounded initiative to advance awareness, prevention, and safety related to gender‑based violence, human trafficking, and the MMIWG crisis, while strengthening supports for Indigenous women, girls, Two‑Spirit people, youth, and families across Nova Scotia. This will be achieved by engaging community and educational partners and developing culturally grounded resources. The project will implement trauma-informed workshops and youth‑focused prevention initiatives, facilitate a roundtable to gather sector insights, and strengthen referral pathways across communities. It will also coordinate efforts on MMIWG, GBV, and HT by identifying system gaps, engaging government partners on policy review, and promoting integrated, innovative, community‑designed programming. Finally, it will advance healing‑centred approaches by piloting new initiatives, establishing sustainability and succession plans, conducting ongoing evaluation, and producing a final report with recommendations.

Through this 12-month project, the Association for New Canadians will scale their Support, Empower, Access (SEA) program to newcomer youth populations in Newfoundland and Labrador. The organization will adapt the SEA program as an existing promising practice to address needs in digital exploitation, digital safety and human trafficking prevention of youth. Using trauma-informed practices, Using trauma-informed practices, this model will be youth-centred by engaging youth members and youth-serving organizations, along with identifying youth ambassadors who will be co-delivering educational presentations to their peers. The development and delivery of the SEA for Youth project will be supported by an environmental scan, an advisory committee, an awareness campaign and a SEA for Youth Summit. The project will include an external evaluation that will look at the promising practices' success in reaching new populations.

At the end of the project, the Association for New Canadians will have supported the prevention of human trafficking and online exploitation of at-risk populations of human trafficking in Newfoundland and Labrador.