VANCOUVER, June 25, 2019 /CNW/ - Ending gender-based violence is crucial if we are serious about giving everyone the same opportunities to join and grow Canada's middle class. We all benefit when women, girls and people of all genders are safe and free to live their lives to the fullest.
Today, the Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, announced funding for a project to support survivors of gender-based violence in Vancouver. This includes people who have been underserved, such as Indigenous women and their communities, children and youth, ethno-cultural women, women who are newcomers, refugees or non-status, LGBTQ2 communities and gender non-binary people, and women living with disabilities.
The Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity, affiliated to the University of British Columbia, will be receiving $1 million to test and evaluate a survivor-centric and trauma-informed approach to supporting criminalized women survivors of gender-based violence – one that will provide feedback and valuable information on how best to improve services and supports to women who are struggling to find a way to get the help they need, to reclaim their lives and recover.
Last year, Minister Monsef announced more than $50 million in funding for nearly 60 projects in communities across the country, including the one announced today, to support survivors of gender-based violence and their families.
Quotes
"With this investment, we are funding the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity to support survivors and their families in Vancouver. This funding envelope was developed in partnership with leaders from the women's sector, whose advice continues to inform Canada's first Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. Leaders asked for more dollars over a longer period of time to meet the ever growing demand for their services, a simplified application process, and resources to help provide supports for the most underserved and marginalized survivors of gender-based violence. Our government listened. Gender-based violence must not be tolerated, and we will continue to work with survivors, community partners, the private sector and other orders of government to end GBV in all of its forms."
The Honourable Maryam Monsef, P.C., M.P.
Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality
"I'm glad the Government of Canada is providing $1 million to the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity. These funds will increase the capacity of eligible women's organizations and Indigenous organizations serving women and women's groups to advance gender equality and provide essential services for women in need. It's crucial that we have institutions in BC that offer peer support, survivor-centric and trauma-informed approaches when helping cis and trans women survivors of gender-based violence."
The Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry, P.C., M.P.
Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre
"We are very pleased that the Government of Canada has invested in this work. Today's announcement will help advance gender equity by supporting criminalized women and gender diverse survivors of gender-based violence to access social, health and legal supports to help them reclaim their lives. Working closely with our community partners, this project aims to work alongside women and gender diverse people's lived experience in developing best practices in intersecting trauma-informed supports and evidence-based policies that will affect change and agency in a gender-based violence response."
Dr. Kate Shannon
Executive Director, Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity & Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Quick Facts
- In June 2017, the Department for Women and Gender Equality (formerly Status of Women Canada) announced the first-ever federal Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence.
- To date, the Government of Canada has invested over $200 million across government to prevent gender-based violence, support survivors and their families, and create more responsive legal and justice systems.
- The Promising practices to support survivors and their families call for concepts is the largest amount of funding ever announced for programming to specifically support diverse groups of gender-based violence survivors and their families.
- Gender-based violence can have lifelong impacts on an individual's physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health. Additionally, the effects can be serious and costly. Annually, the economic impact of intimate partner violence and sexual assault is estimated to be over $12 billion.
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Backgrounder
Department for Women and Gender Equality's Gender-Based Violence Program
Following the June 2017 announcement of It's Time: Canada's Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence, the Department for Women and Gender Equality (formerly Status of Women Canada) launched the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Program in January 2018.
The GBV Program complements the department's Women's Program, and helps organizations working in the GBV sector to develop and implement promising practices to address gaps in supports for survivors and their families.
While violence affects people of all genders, ages, cultures, ethnicities, geographic locations, and socio-economic backgrounds, some populations are more at-risk and face additional barriers to accessing services. The GBV Program responds to this need by providing funding to eligible organizations at the local, regional and national levels for projects that address gaps in supports for specific groups of survivors, including Indigenous women, and other underserved populations, such as children and youth, LGBTQ2 communities, non-status/refugee/immigrant women, seniors, women living in official language minority communities, women living in northern, rural and remote communities, and women living with disabilities.
Call for concepts: Promising Practices to Support Survivors and their Families
In January 2018, Minister Monsef announced $20 million in funding for a call for concepts as part of the new Gender-Based Violence Program. Following Budget 2018, the funding for the Gender-Based Violence Program more than doubled to $50 million so that more organizations, such as sexual assault crisis centres, are better able to help population groups at the highest risk of experiencing violence.
The GBV Program piloted an innovative approach to make it easier for community organizations to access funding, which includes:
- a longer funding period of up to five years;
- a two-stage application process, which reduced the administrative burden of applicant organizations. Less information was required in the initial concept phase, which meant a simpler application process;
- eligible recipients were expanded to include labour groups and unions; provinces, territories, municipalities and their agencies; research organizations and institutes, centres of expertise, educational institutions (i.e. universities, colleges, CÉGEPs, secondary schools, school boards/school districts), as well as public health institutions, hospitals, and health care service providers; and
- testing and evaluation of promising practices are emphasized, which will lead to clear impact and results for Canadians.
Vancouver Project
Today's announcement profiled a project in Vancouver selected for federal funding:
Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity (CGSHE), affiliated to the University of British Columbia
Project title: Trauma-Informed Support for Criminalized Women Survivors of GBV
Funding amount: $1 million
CGSHE will test and evaluate a survivor-centric and trauma-informed approach to supporting criminalized women survivors of gender-based violence – one that will provide feedback and valuable information on how best to improve services and supports to women who are struggling to find a way to get the help they need, to reclaim their lives and recover.
Located in Vancouver, CGSHE is an academic research centre housed at Providence Health Care along with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the UBC Youth Sexual Health Team. Formed in 2018 to address and advance gender and sexual health equity among marginalized and underserviced populations in B.C., Canada and globally, CGSHE has a strategic mandate of community-based research, policy and practice to reduce gender and sexual health inequities. CGSHE is a regular expert contributor and consultant at the national and international levels on gender and sexual health care guidelines related to gender health equity, violence, and sexual and reproductive health.
Associated Links
- Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity
- Gender-Based Violence Program
- It's Time: Canada's Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence
Follow the Department for Women and Gender Equality:
SOURCE Department for Women and Gender Equality
Braeson Holland, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality, 343-549-8825; Valérie Haché, Senior Communications Advisor, Department for Women and Gender Equality, 819-420-8684
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