Question Period Note: WAGE Gender-Based Violence Investments Directly to Organizations

How much is WAGE investing directly 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 $333 million directly to organizations working to prevent and address GBV and has created a specific Gender-based Violence Program.
•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 $333 million in more than 790 projects to advance efforts to prevent and address gender-based violence (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, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, WAGE provided $300 million in emergency funding to support shelters, sexual assault centres, and organizations that offer vital support to individuals experiencing GBV.

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. In 2023-2024, WAGE extended or provided new funding to scale 11 projects totaling $1.4 million. Examples of work supported include the development and implementation of promising practices that focus on trauma-informed prevention training, peer support interventions models and education programs;
o Invested in over 100 projects to bolster the capacity of Indigenous women’s and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations to provide GBV prevention programming;
o Committed over $84 million in support of 185 projects to enhance the GBV Program with funding initiatives, including projects that prevent GBV, engage men and boys, and increased funding for initiatives to stop human trafficking.

Project examples

•Starting in 2022, Tahiuqtiit Women’s Society (TWS), in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, received $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.
Project end date: September 2024
•Starting in 2023, Next Gen Men received $573,855 over 26 months to develop a promising practice for GBV prevention through pro-feminist community-building online. This project will work to mobilize boys as allies to prevent GBV by providing safe and healthy online spaces for boys to explore questions of mental wellness, identity and belonging.
Project end date: December 2024

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 is the government of Canada’s contribution to the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence that was launched in November 2022.
•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 2022-2023, to support provinces and territories in their efforts to implement the National Action Plan to End GBV. WAGE worked with provincial and territorial governments to establish bilateral agreements that support each jurisdictions’ work to end gender-based violence. As of December 2023, all agreements with provincial and territorial governments are available on WAGE’s website. These bilateral agreements are flexible in addressing each jurisdiction’s respective challenges, needs, and priorities, guiding the efforts to end gender-based violence from coast to coast to coast.

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