Government of Canada funds community-based research projects and supports promising practices to address gender-based violence in Alberta

CALGARY, AB, Oct. 12, 2023 /CNW/ - Gender-based violence costs women and gender-diverse people their lives and has profound effects on our communities. Understanding 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, and George Chahal, Member of Parliament for Calgary Skyview, announced more than $3.7 million for eight organizations to prevent and address gender-based violence in Alberta.

The following seven organizations will be implementing a program, service, strategy or policy that could have a significant impact on reducing the prevalence of gender-based violence through a promising practice:

1. Sanare Centre
2. Canadian Pakistani Support Group Association
3. Association for the Alberta Network of Immigrant Women (ANIW)
4. Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse Society
5. Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services
6. The Immigrant Education Society (TIES)
7. Calgary Immigrant Women's Association

This announcement also includes a community-based research project led by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Calgary. This research will help create the foundation for improving gender-based violence services for victims of gender-based violence.

These eight projects will collect data on the lived experiences of women and gender-diverse people to better inform the supports, services and pathways to safety for those experiencing gender-based violence in Alberta. The population groups most at-risk of gender-based violence or underserved when experiencing it are Indigenous women and girls, Black and racialized women, immigrant and refugee women, 2SLGBTQI+ people; women, girls and gender diverse people with disabilities, and women living in Northern, rural, and remote communities.

Today's announcement builds on the announcement of the bilateral agreement between the Government of Canada and the Province of Alberta to support the implementation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence. The National Action Plan was announced by the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for the Status of Women in November 2022. The National Action Plan includes five pillars: support for victims, survivors, and their families; prevention; a responsive justice system; implementing Indigenous-led approaches; and social infrastructure and an enabling environment.

Quotes

"Gender-based violence is a human rights violation still deeply rooted in our society. The projects announced today will seek to better understand the root causes and systemic factors of gender-based violence, while scaling successful promising practices among at-risk populations. Informed by community-based research and promising practices, these organizations and initiatives will chart a path towards safer communities across Canada."

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

"Investing in front-line organizations that work to end gender-based violence is the right thing to do. These organizations provide life-saving services for women and children in Calgary, and they are a key part of our government's plan to stop the root causes of violence. I'm incredibly proud of the work of these organizations and we will always be there to keep their doors open to anyone fleeing violence."

George Chahal, Member of Parliament for Calgary Skyview

Quick facts

• 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.
• The groups identified to be most at risk of gender-based violence in the Province of Alberta include women and girls aged 15 to 24, Indigenous women and girls, persons with disabilities and members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.
• Alberta has some of the highest rates of gender-based violence in Canada. As of 2019, approximately 43% of Albertans (1.8 million in total) have experienced at least one incident of sexual violence in their lifetime.

Associated links

• Women and Gender Equality Canada
• Call for Proposals to Address GBV through Promising Practices and Community-based Research
• The National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence

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SOURCE Women and Gender Equality Canada

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]