Ottawa offers $50M to fight gender violence
HALIFAX — Forty days ago, a woman returned to her home on Nova Scotia’s We’koqma’q First Nation to find her 22-year-old daughter, Cassidy Bernard — a mother of infant twins — dead.
“Her daughter was murdered,” said Paula Marshall, executive director of the Mi’kmaq Legal Support Network.
“Her five-and-a-half-month-old identical twin girls lay dehydrated in a crib beside her, very seriously ill.”
The RCMP are continuing to investigate Bernard’s death, which they call “suspicious,” and the We’koqma’q band council is offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
Marshall described the horrific scene at a funding announcement in Halifax on Monday. Federal Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef announced $50 million for programs aimed at gender-based violence.
In the wake of a global reckoning on the widespread nature of sexism, misogyny and genderbased violence, Monsef said more survivors than ever are seeking support.
The minister said 60 projects across the country will receive up to $1 million each over five years to address gaps in support for underserved groups, including Indigenous women, LGBTQ communities, gender non-binary people, and women in rural and remote areas.
“We know that gender-based violence leaves scars — physical, psychological and emotional scars — and the impact is felt by individuals, their families, as well as their communities,” Monsef said.
“The more we understand about the enormous cost of gender-based violence, the greater we are prepared to continue efforts to prevent it and, when it does occur, to support survivors, to hold perpetrators accountable and to take measures to break the cycle of violence.”
Marshall pointed out that Indigenous women and girls are three times more likely to experience violence, a statistic illustrated by Bernard’s death.
She said African-Nova Scotian women share many of the same struggles, and are overrepresented in the country’s jails.
“Many of the women that are victimized are those women that are marginalized, women that are struggling, maybe living a high-risk lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve support and hope,” Marshall said.
She said she hopes the new funding will help organizations that work with Indigenous and African-Nova Scotian communities provide more support and services in a holistic, meaningful and culturally appropriate way.
Kelly Regan, the minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women, said the province is working with Mi’kmaw and African-Nova Scotian organizations to better support victims and reduce the impact of violence.