Question Period Note: Gender-Based Violence Investments

What is WAGE investing in organizations to prevent and address gender-based violence?

•The Government of Canada is committed to preventing and addressing all forms of gender-based violence.
•Since 2017, Women and Gender Equality Canada has invested over $293 million directly to organizations working to prevent and address GBV and has created a specific Gender-based Violence Program.
•In addition, $300 million was provided in urgent support to shelters, sexual assault centres, and organizations that offer vital support to individuals experiencing GBV in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
•These investments are a critical contribution to progress under the Government of Canada’s efforts to end gender-based violence.

Investment
•Since 2017-18, WAGE has invested over $293 million in more than 670 projects to advance efforts to prevent and address GBV.
•Some significant investments underway that are flowing directly to organizations include:
o Budget 2017 and 2018’s $55 million investment over 5 years and $12 million ongoing to support organizations under the GBV Program;
o Budget 2019’s $10 million investment over 5 years, and $2 million ongoing, for the Human Trafficking Initiative to support organizations in developing and implementing promising prevention or intervention practices dedicated to at-risk populations and survivors of human trafficking. This investment is part of the Public Safety-led National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking.
o Budget 2021’s investments of:
• $105 million over 5 years to enhance the GBV Program;
•$55 million over 5 years 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.
•In addition, WAGE provided $300 million in urgent support to shelters, sexual assault centres, and organizations that offer vital support to individuals experiencing GBV in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results
•To date, WAGE has:
o Under initial GBV Program funding, invested approximately $55 million in over 60 projects dedicated to testing and developing promising practices to address gaps in supports for Indigenous women and other underserved groups of survivors in Canada;
o Supported 42 projects under the Human Trafficking Initiative, for a total of nearly $14 million, which has reached nearly 2,000 individuals through various activities like workshops/webinars, community engagement, and curriculum development;
o Invested in over 90 projects to bolster the capacity of Indigenous women’s and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations to provide GBV prevention programming;
o Committed over $31 million in support of 74 projects to enhance the GBV Program with funding initiatives that engage men and boys, and increased funding for initiatives to stop human trafficking.
•A call for proposals to Address GBV through Promising Practices and Community-based Research closed in February 2023.
 
Project examples
•The Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women is receiving $1 million over four years to develop and evaluate a “Community of Care” approach. The approach will be designed to improve supports to African Nova Scotian and Indigenous women survivors of GBV.
•Tahiuqtiit Woman’s Society (TWS), in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, will receive $489,952 to conduct a needs assessment, engage individuals with lived experience, develop and implement Inuit-centred policies and practices for women’s shelters, and disseminate learnings to other women’s shelters.

BACKGROUND:

•GBV disproportionately affects women and girls. Certain populations that are at risk of GBV, or underserved when they experience these forms of violence, include: Indigenous women and girls; Black and racialized women; immigrant and refugee women; Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and additional sexually and gender diverse (2SLGBTQI+) people; women with disabilities; and women living in Northern, rural, and remote communities.
•In 2017, the Government of Canada announced the launch of the federal GBV Strategy: It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. This strategy contributes to the November 2022 National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.
•In 2018, WAGE established the GBV Program to support organizations working in the GBV sector in developing and implementing promising practices to prevent GBV and address gaps in supports for at-risk or underserved groups of victims/survivors in Canada.
•WAGE continues to collaborate with other federal departments on opportunities to address the systemic and historic causes of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ People, such as the June 2023 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan, and the 2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people National Action Plan.
•In addition to the funding mentioned above, Budget 2022 committed $539.3 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to support provinces and territories in their efforts to implement the National Action Plan to End GBV. WAGE is negotiating bilateral agreements with all provinces and territories. These bilateral agreements will be flexible and support provincial and territorial governments in addressing their respective challenges, needs, and individual priorities.

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