Question Period Note: Family gender-based violence (FGBV)

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• The emotional stress, isolation, and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have created additional risks for the safety and well-being of children and families. Family violence, including all forms of intimate partner violence, accounts for roughly 40% of violent crime reported to police.
• Gender-based violence, including family violence, is a serious public health issue that can have lasting impacts on people’s physical and mental health.
• Budget 2021 provided more than $3 billion over five years, and close to $200 million ongoing, to prevent and address gender-based violence. This included an investment of $50 million over five years for the Public Health Agency of Canada to design and deliver public health interventions that promote safe relationships and prevent family violence, including intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, and elder abuse.
• In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government also supported new initiatives to address family violence, including funding for Kids Help Phone, shelters, sexual assault services, income support initiatives, and support for non-profit and charitable organizations.

The consequences of family violence and gender-based violence can include short- and long-term mental and physical health effects as well as social and economic costs. These can include: behavioural problems in children; drug and alcohol use and attempted suicide in teens; chronic diseases, pain and lack of stable employment in adulthood; and depression and financial problems in older adults. In addition, spousal violence alone costs Canadian society $7.4 billion annually.
The federal government has invested nearly $200 million over six years, starting in 2017-18, and over $40 million per year ongoing, in the Federal Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. Budget 2021 included more than $3 billion over five years and close to $200 million ongoing to prevent and address gender-based violence, including $2.2 billion over five years and $160.9 million ongoing to respond to the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Budget 2021 also committed $601.3 million over five years to advance toward a new National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased risks for the health and safety of people in vulnerable situations in Canada, as children and families face increased stress, and may have difficulty leaving abusive relationships or accessing support or prevention programs. The Survey of COVID-19 and Mental Health indicates risk factors (e.g., depression, parental stress, alcohol consumption) for child maltreatment and family violence have increased. Five per cent of Canadians reported concerns about violence in their homes during the third wave of the pandemic, between February and May 2021. Estimates of concerns about family violence in their own homes were similar for women and men.
Since March 2020, the Government has also announced COVID-19 initiatives that will help address pressures on at-risk families. These include:
• over $14.8 million to Kids Help Phone to support mental health and crisis support for children and youth;
• $100 million to support shelters, sexual assault centres, and organizations providing critical gender-based violence supports to women and children experiencing violence; and
• multiple economic and financial measures to support individuals and families in vulnerable situations, including the enhancement of the Canada Child Benefit.

Ongoing Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) Initiatives
Preventing Gender-Based Violence – the Health Perspective
As part of It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence, PHAC is investing up to $8.5 million per year ongoing to support programs that prevent teen dating violence and child maltreatment, and that equip health professionals to recognize and respond safely to gender-based violence.

Preventing and Addressing Family Violence – the Health Perspective
As a part of Budget 2021’s investments towards a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence and PHAC’s previous investment to support the health of survivors of family violence, PHAC is investing up to $10 million per year from 2022-23 to 2024-25, and up to $6.5 million in 2025-26, to support projects to deliver and test interventions that promote safe relationships and prevent family violence, including intimate partner violence, child maltreatment and elder abuse.
Family Violence Initiative
PHAC is a member of the federal Family Violence Initiative, which brings together 12 departments and agencies in a multi-sectoral approach to addressing family violence. On behalf of the Family Violence Initiative, PHAC hosts and coordinates Stop Family Violence, a web-based source of current information on family violence for health professionals and the public. Stop Family Violence also provides links to supports and services in each province and territory.
Family Violence Surveillance
PHAC uses surveys of Canadians about their own experiences, surveys of proxy informants such as child welfare workers, and administrative data from child welfare case management systems to assess and monitor the prevalence of child maltreatment and related factors.

Survey on COVID-19 and Mental Health
PHAC’s analyses of surveillance data from the Survey on COVID-19 and Mental Health are contributing to the understanding of the wider impacts of COVID-19 on family violence, parenting challenges, and the risk factors for both. Data for the third cycle of this survey will be collected in 2023, further supporting our understanding of the wider health impacts of COVID-19 at different phases of the pandemic.

One of the key findings from the first two cycles is that parental depression in the third wave was more than three times higher among the respondents than pre-COVID estimates, and more elevated for mothers than fathers. Depression was associated with self-reports of harsh parenting, such as slapping and hitting, using coarse language, and belittling the child. For mothers, risk factors included feeling lonely or isolated because of COVID-19, or having a higher income. For fathers, being a frontline worker was a risk factor.

Other
The Health Portfolio also supports maternal-child health programs that strengthen family relationships and reduce risk factors for violence, and supports analysis to understand the nature and impacts of family violence.

• During the pandemic, risk factors (e.g., depression, parental stress, alcohol consumption) for child maltreatment and family violence have increased.
• Five percent of Canadian survey respondents reported concerns about violence in their homes during the third wave of the pandemic, between February and May 2021.
• Spousal violence alone costs Canadian society $7.4 billion annually.