2023-2024 Annual Progress Report on the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence

This annual progress report highlights actions taken by jurisdictions in the first year of implementation of their respective bilateral agreements under the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.

Introduction

All levels of government—federal, provincial, and territorial—need to work together to stop gender-based violence and support those affected. Gender-based violence is a complex issue that requires cross-sectoral approaches with engagement from education, health, justice, and social service sectors. This means coordinating efforts, while respecting specific roles and collaborating with victims, survivors, their families, Indigenous communities, non-profit organizations, local service providers, city governments, businesses, and researchers.

Since the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence was launched in November 2022 by Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women, significant progress has been made.^{Footnote 1} 

This first annual progress report outlines the achievement of developing and signing 13 bilateral agreements with all provinces and territories, which demonstrates a united commitment to continue to listen and to respond to the needs of victims, survivors, their families, and the organizations that serve them. The report highlights the actions taken by the jurisdictions until March 31, 2024.^{Footnote 2} 

As the first year of implementation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence concludes, it is more important than ever for collective action to create a Canada where everyone is safe from gender-based violence.

Background

In 2019, 30% of women reported experiencing a sexual assault since age 15^{Footnote 3}  . Forty-four percent (44%) of women reported experiencing some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime^{Footnote 4} , and rates of intimate partner violence increased by 1% in 2023.^{Footnote 5}  In addition, people with multiple identity factors may be more at-risk of experiencing gender-based violence. Indigenous women are more likely than non-Indigenous women to have been sexually assaulted at least once since age 15 (43% versus 30%, respectively)^{Footnote 6} . In Canada, 50% of lesbian, gay, bisexual+ (LGB+) women and 26% of LGB+ men have been sexually assaulted since age 15 compared to heterosexual women (30%) and heterosexual men (8%).^{Footnote 7}

The 10-year National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence is a concrete step fulfilling a long-standing commitment of Federal-Provincial-Territorial governments to work together towards a Canada free of gender-based violence, a Canada that supports victims/survivors and their families from coast to coast to coast. The National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence consists of five pillars and a foundation: 

  Pillar 1: Support for victims, survivors and their families

  Pillar 2: Prevention

  Pillar 3: Responsive justice system

  Pillar 4: Implementing Indigenous-led approaches

  Pillar 5: Social infrastructure and enabling environment

  The Foundation

The National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence builds on existing federal-provincial-territorial approaches and strategies to prevent and address gender-based violence. It is a strategic framework for action within and across jurisdictions with the goal of supporting victims, survivors, and their families, no matter where they live.

To support implementation of the National Action Plan, the Government of Canada has invested $539.3 million over five years, including $525 million over four years to enable provinces and territories to supplement and enhance services and supports within their jurisdictions. With this funding, Women and Gender Equality Canada negotiated bilateral funding agreements with the provinces and territories. These agreements were finalized and announced between July and December 2023 and are available on Women and Gender Equality Canada’s website.

Since the first year of implementation was a partial year, the annual funding amounts were lower than in future years. These amounts will increase in Year 2 and carry through the remaining years of the agreement.^{Footnote 8}

The bilateral agreements are flexible and support jurisdictions in addressing their respective challenges, needs, and priorities within the pillars and foundation of the National Action Plan. Under the agreements, provincial and territorial governments must meet an overall 50/50 cost share. The federal funds cannot exceed 50% of the total funds invested. A higher federal cost share may be used for provincial and territorial actions supporting three key priorities:

• Increasing prevention efforts – To stem the tide of downstream costs and support sustainability over the longer-term.
  • Under the bilateral agreements, provinces and territories must use a minimum of 25% of the total federal funding on increasing prevention efforts.
• Reaching underserved and/or most at-risk populations – To ensure that services and supports are accessible, appropriate, and tailored to specific needs.
• Stabilizing the gender-based violence sector – To enable the ongoing and effective delivery of essential gender-based violence services across the country.

Provinces and territories submitted implementation plans to show how investments would be directed. In some instances, provincial and territorial implementation plans or priorities may have shifted resulting in certain activities being delayed or not started. This was the case in Year 1 as jurisdictions started at different levels of capacity with various baselines of data available. As implementation progresses, momentum will continue to build, and the implementation of initiatives will increase.  

As part of the implementation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence, federal, provincial, and territorial governments are working together to monitor the results and impacts of actions through an Expected Results Framework. Year 2 reporting will better reflect progress against the Expected Results Framework now that baseline data measures are established.

Year 1 results overview

Year 1 was a foundational year with a focus on establishing bilateral funding agreements with all provinces and territories and building capacity for future years of implementation.  With $55.2 million in federal funding and $503.7 million in provincial and territorial investments, almost $558 million was invested across 193 actions in Year 1.^{Footnote 9}  This first year also saw more than $23.9 million, or 43% of funding from the federal investment alone, invested in prevention efforts, greatly exceeding the 25% minimum spending target that is required under the bilateral agreements with the jurisdictions.

Where did the funding go? Provinces and territories funded 729 organizations and partners in the first year, with third-party organizations delivering 68% of the actions. In total, $60 million went directly to helping service providers, community organizations, researchers, post-secondary institutions, Indigenous partners and other community-based organizations.

In this first year of implementation, the provinces and territories reported that a total of 471 projects across all five pillars and the foundation were Indigenous-led.

Gathering disaggregated data is essential to understanding the needs and gaps that may exist for certain populations, particularly those who are more at risk of gender-based violence and who are underserved when they experience violence. When reporting on data, provinces and territories noted which populations their actions supported. 

Federal contribution

The Federal Gender-based Violence Strategy, It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-based Violence, is the federal contribution to the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence. The Strategy is divided into three pillars: Preventing Gender-based Violence, Supporting Victims, Survivors and their Families, and Promoting a Responsive Justice System. Some of the actions funded under or contributing to the goals of the Federal Gender-based Violence Strategy involve changing social norms, attitudes, and behaviours that contribute to gender-based violence, which can take decades. Other actions support health and social services, and the justice system for people who have experienced gender-based violence. Additional actions support evidence-based policies, programs, and initiatives that reflect the unique experiences and needs of diverse groups. From changing social norms and attitudes that perpetuate violence to advocating evidence-based policies that address the diverse needs of communities, the Federal Gender-based Violence Strategy provides critical community support to prevent and address gender-based violence within areas of federal jurisdiction.

In 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 progress was made in a variety of areas including:

• Continued work with Indigenous partners
• Enhanced data collection and reporting methodologies
• Improved research on gender-based violence
• Strengthened the capacity of not-for-profit organization
• Developed training materials, toolkits and resources
• Adapted training and resources to digital format
• Launched public awareness campaigns and knowledge-sharing initiatives
• Prioritized supports for diverse communities

The full Federal Gender-based Violence Strategy report for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 will be published in winter 2025.

First year: Lessons learned

The implementation in the first year of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence came with successes and opportunities. These lessons will inform future progress.  

Early successes

• Collaboration: Implementing the National Action Plan requires all levels of government to collaborate with victims and survivors, Indigenous partners, civil society organizations, researchers and front-line service providers to develop innovative solutions. Connections and partnerships across jurisdictions and between governments and communities are key to addressing gender-based violence in a cohesive and multi-faceted manner.
• Changing social norms: The launch of the National Action Plan and announcement of 13 bilateral funding agreements raised awareness about the need for society to act to end gender-based violence. Awareness is key to changing social norms.
• Flexibility: The flexibility built into the bilateral agreements is enabling provinces and territories to distribute funds, address local realities, and adapt to evolving needs.
• Ambition: The National Action Plan is a historical commitment to end gender-based violence. This has created a sense of ambition and collective action towards change due to investments, leadership, support, and the momentum to move forward.
• Innovation: Federal, provincial and territorial governments have found opportunities to develop new and innovative practices. For example, some jurisdictions are sharing resources in order to support community organizations in collecting data and reporting.

Challenges

• Capacity: Year 1 was a partial year of implementation. Some jurisdictions indicated there were capacity challenges like the recruitment and retention of staff to deliver services and supports, time required to distribute funds to third party providers, and availability of data to demonstrate results.
• External factors: The residual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with challenges such as environmental events (e.g. wildfires, floods), directly affected the ability for some jurisdictions to deliver on initiatives. 
• Funding: The need for funding to sustain and expand critical services is more urgent than ever. As demand for supports and services continues to rise, there is a need to adequately respond while working toward ending gender-based violence.    

Conclusion

The work to end gender-based violence and achieve gender equality in Canada is far from done. Federal, provincial, and territorial governments – in partnership with victims, survivors, Indigenous partners, civil society, frontline service providers, municipalities, and the private sector – will continue working together to implement the National Action Plan in a way that responds to the evolving needs of and emerging issues for survivors and victims of gender-based violence.

While some progress was made in the first year of implementation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence, the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic linger, showing that there is more work to do. It has taken steady efforts to achieve what has been done to date. It will continue to take consistent work to shift values, attitudes and behaviours; support victims, survivors, and their families; build a more responsive justice system; use Indigenous-led approaches; and ensure the necessary social infrastructure and enabling environment are in place to end gender-based violence.

Moving forward, there will be more focus on:

• More actions for underserved and at-risk populations including women, girls and gender diverse people with disabilities, immigrant and refugee women, and women and girls in rural, remote and Northern Canada. 
• Increasing initiatives for victims and survivors navigating the justice system under Pillar 3 (Responsive justice system). In Year 1, Pillar 3 had the fewest actions and the smallest investments of all the pillars because the changes needed are systemic and will take time. Actions for Year 2 show a major increase in investments and initiatives.
• The use of data and the data collection capabilities within jurisdictions and third-party organizations. Together with information collected through the Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces, the increased availability of provincial and territorial disaggregated data will allow for more detailed analysis of gaps in some intersectional populations.
• Measuring progress and outcomes against the Expected Results Framework now that baseline data measures are established. This will allow for enhanced reporting in future years and ensure accountability to Canadians in efforts to end gender-based violence.

As part of the commitment to accountability, an evaluation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence will be conducted in 2026-2027. The evaluation plan will be developed with all provinces and territories. The results of the evaluation will continue to shape implementation in future years and will be crucial to ensuring its success over its 10-year lifespan.

Together, we will end gender-based violence.