The Minister for Women and Gender Equality’s appearances before the House of Commons Special Committee on COVID-19

April 28, 2020

Supporting women’s shelters and sexual assault centres across Canada during COVID-19

Question:

What is the Government doing to support women’s shelters and sexual assault centres during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Suggested response:

• The Government of Canada is taking strong and quick action to protect our economy, and the health, safety, and jobs of all Canadians during the global COVID-19 outbreak.
• Canadians have been urged to stay at home during this time. However, home is not a safe place for everyone. It is not a safe place for women or their children, who experience domestic or intimate partner violence. For them, being confined at home, isolated, in close contact with a violent partner can be a terrifying prospect.
• This is why the Government is investing to support women and children fleeing violence by providing up to $50 million to women’s shelters and sexual assault centres to help with their capacity to manage or prevent an outbreak in their facilities. This includes funding for facilities in Indigenous communities.
• We are currently working to ensure the funding gets to organizations as soon as possible.

Background:

On March 18, 2020, the Prime Minister announced a new set of economic measures to help stabilize the economy and help Canadians affected by the impacts of this challenging period.

These measures, delivered as part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, will provide up to $27 billion in direct support to Canadian workers and businesses, plus $55 billion to meet liquidity needs of Canadian businesses and households through tax deferrals to help stabilize the economy. Combined, this $82 billion in support represents more than 3% of Canada’s GDP. This wide-ranging support will help ensure Canadians can pay for rent and groceries, and help businesses continue to pay their employees and their bills during this time of uncertainty.

This support includes $50 million to women’s shelters and sexual assault centres to help with their capacity to be first responders during the current health crisis, as well as to prevent outbreaks or manage them should they occur in their facilities. This includes funding for facilities in Indigenous communities.

Funding will be used to increase safety and emergency preparedness, and to support the ability of these organizations to serve women and their children, who experience violence.

In recent days, many places that women who experience violence would normally turn to, such as community centres, places of worship, or friends’ homes, are closed.

Shelters across the country need additional supplies and resources to prevent outbreaks. According to a recent CBC series, women and children are turned away from shelters in Canada about 19,000 times a month. These organizations do not have reserve funds to deal with unexpected situations, such as COVID-19.

May 12, 2020

Supporting women’s shelters and sexual assault centres across Canada during COVID-19

Question:

What is the Government doing to support women’s shelters and sexual assault centres during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Suggested response:

• The Government of Canada is taking strong and quick action to protect our economy, and the health, safety, and jobs of all Canadians during the global COVID-19 outbreak.
• Canadians have been urged to stay at home during this time. However, home is not a safe place for everyone. It is not a safe place for women or their children, who experience domestic or intimate partner violence. For them, being confined at home, isolated, in close contact with a violent partner can be a terrifying prospect.
• This is why the Government is investing to support women and children fleeing violence by providing up to $50 million to violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres to help with their capacity to manage or prevent an outbreak in their facilities. This includes funding for facilities in Indigenous communities.
• I am pleased to announce that, thanks to the work of our partners at Women’s Shelter Canada and the Canadian Women’s Foundation, these much needed resources are already flowing to organizations.

Background:

On March 18, 2020, the Prime Minister announced a new set of economic measures to help stabilize the economy and help Canadians affected by the impacts of this challenging period.

These measures, delivered as part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, will provide up to $27 billion in direct support to Canadian workers and businesses, plus $55 billion to meet liquidity needs of Canadian businesses and households through tax deferrals to help stabilize the economy. Combined, this $82 billion in support represents more than 3% of Canada’s GDP. This wide-ranging support will help ensure Canadians can pay for rent and groceries, and help businesses continue to pay their employees and their bills during this time of uncertainty.

This support includes up to $50 million to violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres to help with their capacity to be first responders during the current health crisis, as well as to prevent outbreaks or manage them should they occur in their facilities. This includes funding for facilities in Indigenous communities.

Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) is receiving up to $40 million. Out of this amount, up to $30 million will address the immediate needs of violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres across the country. The funds will be distributed as follows:

• Up to $20.54 million to Women’s Shelters Canada (WSC) to distribute to over 430 violence against women shelters across the country (excluding Quebec, and Indigenous shelters funded by Indigenous Services Canada)
• Up to $3 million to the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) to distribute to over 90 sexual assault centres across the country (excluding Quebec).
• Up to $6.46 million to the Government of Quebec to distribute to violence against women shelters and sexual assault centres in the province.

In addition, up to $10 million will be provided to Indigenous Services Canada's (ISC) existing network of 46 emergency shelters on reserve and in Yukon to support Indigenous women and children fleeing violence.

• These new funds will flow directly to shelters and will provide them with additional operational funding to manage or prevent an outbreak in their facilities.
• The operational funding will be delivered through ISC’s Family Violence Prevention Program. The amount for each shelter will be determined based on factors such as on-reserve population, remoteness, and number of beds.

Of the funding provided to WSC and CWF, as of early May, 97% (423 of 434) of eligible shelters had received payment, for a total amount of $12,458,000; and 98% (89 of 91) of eligible sexual assault centres had received payment, for a total of $2,225,000.

Funding will be used to increase safety and emergency preparedness, and to support the ability of these organizations to serve women and their children, who experience violence.

In recent weeks, many places that women who experience violence would normally turn to, such as community centres, places of worship, or friends’ homes, are closed.

Shelters and sexual assault centres across the country need additional supplies and resources to prevent outbreaks. According to a recent CBC series, women and children are turned away from shelters in Canada about 19,000 times a month. These organizations do not have reserve funds to deal with unexpected situations, such as COVID-19.

July 16, 2020

2020-21 Supplementary Estimates (A)

Issue / Question:

2020-21 Supplementary Estimates (A): Delivery of emergency response measures to Canadians (COVID-19)

Suggested response:

• The Government of Canada is taking action to protect our economy, and the health, safety, and jobs of all Canadians during the COVID-19 outbreak.
• As part of the COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, the Government of Canada announced up to $40 million to be delivered through Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) for women and children fleeing gender-based violence.
• Since the onset of the pandemic, WAGE has worked with provincial and territorial counterparts and stakeholders across the country to ensure that this funding is distributed to organizations as quickly as possible.
• To date, $30 million of this funding has addressed the immediate needs of nearly 700 women’s shelters and sexual assault centres from coast to coast to coast.

Background:

Supplementary Estimates are part of the normal parliamentary approval process to ensure that previously planned government initiatives receive the necessary funding to move them forward, therefore meeting the needs of Canadians.

The 2020-21 Supplementary Estimates (A) were tabled in Parliament on June 2, 2020.

This is the first Supplementary Estimates to be published in 2020-21 and, as such, is identified as Supplementary Estimates (A). The Appropriation Act is expected to receive royal assent by the end of June 2020. This will provide federal organizations with additional funding needed early in the fiscal year.

The Department for Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) is expected to receive $10 million in Grants and Contributions (G&Cs) funding via Supps A. This $10 million represents the remainder of the previously announced $40 million to support women and children fleeing gender-based violence. 

Since the $10 million was required prior to the approval of Supps A, WAGE was loaned $10 million from the Treasury Board (TB) Vote 5 Government Contingencies fund. The $10 million to be received from Supps A will be used to reimburse that loan.

The $30 million in statutory funding received by WAGE to support women’s shelters and sexual assault centres pursuant to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act is presented for information purposes only.

Once Supps A are given royal assent, WAGE’s G&Cs funding will reflect the entire $40 million it was allocated.