Question Period Note: WAGE Funding Overview

How does Women and Gender Equality Canada support communities to advance gender equality?

• Gender equality benefits everyone—women, men, non-binary people and people of all gender identities.
• As the lead federal department, Women and Gender Equality Canada advances gender equality through support to women’s, 2SLGBTQI+ and other equality-seeking organizations working to actively promote the inclusion of all people in Canada’s economic, social, and political life.
• Since November 2015, the Government of Canada has significantly increased funding to these organizations, providing more than $490M for over 1,100 projects to:
o address barriers to gender equality in the areas of economic security and prosperity, leadership and ending gender-based violence;
o build capacity to advance gender equality, through activities such as strategic planning and partnership development; and
o develop and test promising practices, such as survivor-centred and trauma-informed approaches to service delivery, to support at-risk populations and victims and survivors of gender-based violence.

• The Government is committed to sustainability of historic funding commitments to these organizations, focussing support on Indigenous women, women with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQI+ communities, and racialized, newcomer and migrant women.
• Budget 2022 provides further investments to support equity-seeking organizations including:
o $539.3M over 5 years to work with Provinces and Territories to enhance services and supports to prevent gender-based violence and support survivors.
o $25M over 2 years to establish a national pilot project for a Menstrual Equity Fund to help make menstrual products available to Canadians who most need help.
o $100M over 5 years to support the implementation of the newly announced Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan, to support a more equal Canada for 2SLGBTQI+ people.

Investment

• Since 2015, the Department has funded over 1,100 projects providing more than $490M, to ensure that everyone can participate fully in Canadian society. This includes:
o $152.8M to Indigenous projects (representing 31% of all WAGE investments)
o $59M to projects for racialized communities
o $59.8M to projects in northern, remote, or rural projects
o $49.4M to non-status, immigrant, or refugee projects
o $45.4M to youth focused projects
o $51.4M to Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender diverse people (2SLGBTQI+) projects
o $23.4M to projects targeting low income
o $15.2M to official language minority communities
o $10.8M to projects targeting people with a disability

Women’s Program
• Since 2015, WAGE has invested over $360M in 900 projects to advance women’s equality. Funding is provided to organizations in support of projects that address the following four priority areas:
o Ending violence against women and girls – 260 projects for a total investment of $77.8M.
o Improving women's and girls' economic security and prosperity - 212 projects for a total investment of $116.5M.
o Encouraging women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles - 134 projects for a total investment of $70M.
o Organizational Capacity – 294 projects for a total investment of $100.1M.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Funding:
• Since 2015, WAGE has invested over $101M in more than 175 projects to prevent and address GBV.
• In addition, Budget 2021 announced $55M in funding (over 5 years, starting in 2021-22) to bolster the capacity of Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations, to provide GBV prevention programming aimed at addressing the root causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. A Call for Proposals closed in March 2022 and implementation of successful projects is anticipated to begin in fall 2022.
• Budget 2021 also announced a total of $30M (over 5 years, starting in 2021-22) to support crisis hotlines addressing GBV. The first bilateral agreement with Manitoba was announced on August 10, 2022. Over the next few months, WAGE will work with each province and territory to sign similar bilateral agreements.
• WAGE is also investing $300M, through the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Recovery Fund, to support shelters, sexual assault centres, and other organizations providing GBV supports. Since April 2020, more than $235M in emergency funding has been provided to 1,400 organizations. Because of this funding, more than 1.3 million individuals had a place to turn.

2SLGBTQI+ Funding:
• 2SLGBTQI+ Community Capacity Fund: Through the $20M 2SLGBTQI+ Community Capacity Fund announced in Budget 2019, the capacity of 76 2SLGBTQI+ organizations has been enhanced. On February 2, 2022, an additional $7.5M was announced to extend the Fund for another year for existing recipients.
• 2SLGBTQI+ Projects Fund: A $15M 2SLGBTQI+ Projects Fund was announced in Budget 2021 over 3 years to address barriers to equality with community-informed solutions. WAGE is supporting an initial eight projects, totalling more than $3.3M. A Call for Proposals was also launched on May 17 and closed June 30, 2022. Over 130 proposals were received and are currently being assessed.

Results

• In 2020-21, projects funded by the Women’s Program to:
o Improve women's and girls' economic security and prosperity, created and disseminated 153 different resources to increase awareness of what services and supports were available and how to access them. As a result of these projects, 368,229 women gained access to services and supports that resulted in better opportunities in education, employment, health, and social services.
o Encourage women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles developed and disseminated 1,196 resources, including toolkits, guides and various models. As a result, over 3.5 million people gained skills and knowledge to create more equitable conditions for women in various spheres.
o Prevent and address gender-based violence, developed over 186 resources to increase awareness about services and supports, as well as how to prevent GBV and to support survivors. As a result of these projects, 1,105,948 women gained access to services and supports related to gender-based violence, including access to counselling, court services, and trauma-informed victims’ services.
• As a result of GBV Program funding, in 2020-21, more than 350 new partnerships were created to develop training on cultural safety and trauma informed service delivery, transform care for 2SLGBTQI+ and gender diverse survivors of GBV, and pilot new supports the help survivors of GBV navigate the legal system.
o 49% of organizations are collaborating to share knowledge, tools and/or providing feedback to assist with the development / implementation of projects.
o 19% of organizations are helping to engage key stakeholders and/or expanding the reach of projects.
o 15% of collaborating organizations are directly involved in the implementation of projects.
o 11% of organizations are involved in the projects’ organizing/advisory committees and/or are involved in decision-making on the development / implementation of projects.

Project examples

• Women’s Program:
o The Woman Abuse Council of Toronto (WomanACT) is receiving $435,178 over 30 months from the Feminist Response and Recovery Fund to address systemic barriers to women's safety in their home. Engaging with survivors of GBV, the project will work to shift gender norms and attitudes through public awareness, and collaborate with police, crisis lines, housing access services, income support providers, to identify opportunities for culture and practice change.
o The Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association undertook a project to increase access to affordable alternative childcare for immigrant women working in the food service industry. The organization offered free childcare services, resulting in 43% of women moving to full-time work, 29% receiving promotions, and 14% re-entering the labour force.
o The PEI Coalition for Women in Government, Women’s Network PEI and Winding Path Incorporated, partnered on a project to provide women in PEI with the knowledge and skills to participate in political spheres. This coalition of organizations engaged with 188 people, including 161 women, to identify barriers to women’s political participation in PEI. In addition, the organizations worked with political parties on PEI to identify ways to increase women’s political participation in the province. As a result, the Legislative Assembly of PEI made important policy changes that removed some of the major barriers identified by the project, especially those related to home and family responsibilities. The following provincial election in PEI saw a record high of 33% women candidates and a 5% increase in the number of women elected.

• GBV Program: The Ontario Native Women's Association is receiving $1M over 5 years to develop organizational and system-wide approaches and mechanisms to respond to the needs of Indigenous women survivors of violence, engaging with Indigenous women using a trauma-based care approach and cultural practices.

• 2SLGBTQI+ Funding: The Community-Based Research Centre received $442,185 over 15 months from the 2SLGBTQI+ Community Capacity Fund to strengthen its capacity to advance 2SLGBTQI+ equality in Canada through the development of community-based research training for 2SLGBTQI+ organizations; an internal knowledge translation and exchange strategy; and governance enhancements.

BACKGROUND:

Women’s Program

• Through the Women’s Program, WAGE invests in time-limited projects across Canada that address systemic barriers to gender equality in three priority areas: ending violence against women and girls; improving women’s and girls’ economic security and prosperity; and encouraging women and girls in leadership and decision-making roles. The objective of the Women’s Program is to achieve the full participation of women in the economic, social, and democratic life of Canada. Funding recipients are primarily not-for-profit organizations, from local grassroots organizations to large national organizations.

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Program

• Established as part of It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence, the GBV Program provides funding to organizations in the GBV sector to support the development and implementation of promising practices to address gaps in supports for survivors and their families.

• Funding is provided to eligible organizations in support of time-specific projects that address gaps in supports for specific groups of survivors, including Indigenous women and their communities and underserved populations, such as those who are more at risk of GBV and/or who are facing barriers to accessing services. These could include children and youth, racialized women, 2SLGBTQI+ communities and gender-non-binary people, non-status/refugee/immigrant women, seniors, women living in an official language minority community, women living in northern, rural and remote communities, and women living with a disability.

Equality for Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SSOGIE) Program

• The Equality for SSOGIE Program supports action and innovation by investing in initiatives and organizations that work to bring about social, political, and economic equality in relation to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. The Equality for SSOGIE Program funds eligible organizations for time-specific projects that include activities such as partnership building, capacity building, and applied community research.

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