Question Period Note: Funding Overview

Overview of funding programs offered by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE).

• Women’s and equality seeking organizations provide vital services to our communities: supporting women, girls, LGBTQ2 people and people of all gender identities and expressions in Canada.
• The Department for Women and Gender Equality provides funding to many of these organizations to advance equality in social, economic and political spheres, to build capacity, and to develop and test promising practices to support at-risk populations and survivors of gender-based violence and their families.
• Since November 2015, the department has funded over 620 projects for approximately $260 million in its ongoing efforts to ensure that everyone can participate fully as members of Canadian society.

Women’s Program
The Women’s Program aims to achieve the full participation of women in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada by investing in projects that address systemic barriers to women’s equality.

With increases in funding over the past five years, the Women’s Program has been able to significantly extend its support, including through:
o The Capacity Building Fund: Over 250 projects funded to increase the capacity of women’s organizations and Indigenous organizations working to advance women’s equality.
o The Commemoration Fund: Over 100 projects funded to help honour the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and LGBTQ and two-spirit people.
o $160M over five years, starting in 2019-20, to support projects aimed at advancing systemic change for equality of women from diverse backgrounds.

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 develop and implement promising practices to address gaps in supports for survivors and their families. Approximately $50 million is being invested in almost 60 projects.

On July 29, 2020, as part of the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, WAGE announced up to $14 million for a call for proposals to support organizations to develop and implement promising practices to enhance empowerment supports for at-risk populations and survivors of human trafficking. This call closed on September 11, 2020.

LGBTQ2 Community Capacity Fund
The LGBTQ2 Community Capacity Fund was announced in Budget 2019 with $20M over three years, starting in 2019-20, to enhance the capacity of LGBTQ2 organizations in Canada. In 2019, an initial investment was made in seven projects (over $2M in funding).

The remainder of the available funding is being distributed through a Call for Proposals, which closed in May 2020 and received over 260 applications from LGBTQ2 organizations across the country. The disbursement of these funds is expected to begin in fall 2020.

COVID-19 Emergency Funding for Shelters and Sexual Assault Centres
On March 18, 2020, the Government of Canada announced a COVID-19 Economic Response Plan which included an investment of up to $50M to women’s shelters and sexual assault centres and other organizations providing critical supports and services to women and children fleeing violence to help with their capacity to manage or prevent a potential outbreak in their facilities.

Of the $40M investment to WAGE, $30 million is supporting violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres across the country and the remaining $10 million is supporting other organizations providing critical supports and services to women and children fleeing violence.

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