Backgrounder -  Government of Canada supports LGBTQ2 survivors of gender-based violence in Saskatoon

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 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 supporting community organizations, which includes: 

• a longer funding period of up to five years;
• a two-stage application process, which reduced the administrative burden for applicant organizations. Less information was required in the initial concept phase, which meant a leaner application process for organizations;
• 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 is emphasized, which will lead to clear impact and results for Canadians. 

Public Health Agency of Canada’s Preventing Gender-Based Violence – The Health Perspective program

As part of It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence, the Public Health Agency of Canada launched the Preventing Gender-Based Violence – The Health Perspective program to support programs to prevent gender-based violence and address its impacts on physical and mental health. This includes programs that improve the capacity of health and social service professionals to recognize and prevent gender-based violence and to respond in safe and appropriate ways. 

OUTSaskatoon

Today’s announcement highlights the Government of Canada’s support for OUTSaskatoon’s two projects, which will receive more than $1.1 million in funding. 

Project title: Transformative Care for LGBTQ2S Survivors of Gender-Based Violence: A Prevention and Intervention Action Plan

The Department for Women and Gender Equality will invest $548,637 over five years in a project that seeks to develop and test the provision of trauma- and survivor-informed, feminist, intersectional, and anti-oppressive services to LGBTQ2 adult and youth individuals and gender non-conforming survivors of gender-based violence. 

Project title: Understanding Gender-Based Violence in LGBTQ2S Communities

The Public Health Agency of Canada will invest $567,112 over five years in a project that seeks to improve the quality of care for LGBTQ2 people in Saskatchewan and throughout the Prairies by training and mentoring educators and health and social service providers on how to recognize, prevent and respond safely to gender-based violence as it impacts LGBTQ2 people of all ages and backgrounds.   

Incorporated in 1991, OUTSaskatoon is a community-based LGBTQ2S organization that addresses the underlying issues affecting the health and welfare of the community by countering heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. It provides short-term counselling, social support groups, diversity training, outreach and community referrals according to principles based on feminism, harm reduction, collaboration and intersectionality.