The Government of Canada has announced an additional $50 million in emergency COVID-19 funding to support women’s shelters and other organizations that support those impacted by gender-based violence (GBV).This is in addition to $50 million in already announced funding.
Funding includes:
- Up to $10 million for women’s shelters and sexual assault centres to help them continue to provide their critical services safely;
- Up to $10 million to support organizations providing services related to gender-based violence to Indigenous people off-reserve; and
- Up to $30 million for other women’s organizations to support the delivery of GBV supports, to help combat the spread of COVID, and to address the increased demand for services.
Our government is also moving forward on a National Action Plan to address gender-based violence. This work focuses on ensuring that people who experience GBV have access to timely supports no matter where they live while also laying the foundation to eradicate this violence altogether.Between 2015 and 2019, federal support to women’s and equality-seeking organizations increased five-fold, compared to the previous five years. Six million Canadians benefit from the work of these organizations every year.
Background:
- Data collected through Statistics Canada in March and April 2020 suggested that 1 in 10 women in Canada were very or extremely concerned about the possibility of violence in the home early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
- On September 21, 2020, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation announced $1 billion to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians by rapidly creating new affordable housing.
- Since 2015 the Government helped 1 million Canadians get access to safe and affordable housing, including the creation or enhancement of nearly 7,000 units that provide safe housing to survivors of domestic violence.
- 40,000 childcare spaces have been created since 2015 and the 2020 Speech from the Throne committed to a significant, sustained investment to create a universal child care system in Canada.
- In 2020, Canada placed 1st in North America according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, having improved 11 places globally since 2015, compared to 153 countries
