Government of Canada announces support for 34 Ontario-based organizations to prevent and address gender-based violence

SUDBURY, ON, Jan. 11, 2024 /CNW/ - Gender-based violence costs women and gender-diverse people their lives and has profound effects on our communities. Preventing and addressing gender-based violence is a crucial step to advancing gender equality in Canada. 

Today, Lisa Hepfner, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, alongside Viviane Lapointe, Member of Parliament for Sudbury, announced up to $19 million for 34 organizations to prevent and address gender-based violence in Ontario and across the country. 

This funding will help these organizations prevent and address gender-based violence by strengthening their communities, building capacity, providing better support and resources, or conducting research. The collaborative spirit driving these initiatives embodies the essence of progress towards gender equality and a stronger, more inclusive Canada.   

Today's announcement builds on the progress of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The Government of Canada has signed bilateral agreements with all provinces and territories, and this investment is complementary to these agreements. 

Quotes

"We cannot achieve lasting gender equality if women and girls continue to suffer from gender-based violence. These direct federal investments, alongside the National Action Plan to End to Gender-Based violence, are about keeping people safe, supporting frontline workers, and making sure that we are addressing the root causes of gender-based violence and intimate partner violence."

Lisa Hepfner, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth

"Gender-based violence is a human rights violation that has profound impacts on communities, including here in Sudbury. I am proud to support the incredible work of local GBV organizations that are committed to protecting the rights of survivors of violence. All projects announced today will seek to better understand the root causes and systemic factors of gender-based violence. Informed by community-based research and promising practices, these organizations and initiatives will support a path towards building safer communities across Canada."

Viviane Lapointe, Member of Parliament for Sudbury

Quick facts

• An investment of approximately $601.3 million was made through Budget 2021 to increase efforts to end gender-based violence.
  • This includes $55 million to increase the capacity of Indigenous women's and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations, helping them address the root causes of violence and deliver prevention programming in their communities.
  • This funding is a key initiative of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People. The funding is also a significant contribution to Implementing Indigenous-led approaches, Pillar 4 of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence.
• Funding for the Call for Proposals to Address Gender-based Violence Through Promising Practices and Community-Based Research is part of the investments over five years that the Government of Canada provided through Budget 2021 for Women and Gender Equality Canada to enhance its Gender-based Violence Program. Approximately $56 million is committed to supporting projects that strengthen the gender-based violence sector through promising practices and knowledge building.
• Building on these investments, Budget 2022 committed $539.3 million over five years to support provinces and territories in their efforts to implement the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence.
• In 2018, 44% of women in Canada—or about 6.2 million women—reported experiencing some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
• Despite comprising only 5% of the female population in Canada, 21% of all gender-related homicide victims between 2011 and 2021 were Indigenous women and girls.
• In 2018, 30% of women reported having been sexually assaulted at least once since age 15, a rate almost four times higher than that for men.

Associated links

• Women and Gender Equality Canada
• News release – Call for proposals: Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations to further address gender-based violence 
• Call for Proposals to Address GBV through Promising Practices and Community-based Research
• The National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence
• Bilateral Agreements to end Gender-based Violence 

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Contacts: Nanki Singh, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, 819-665-2632, [email protected]; Media Relations: Women and Gender Equality Canada, 819-420-6530, [email protected]