Status of Women gets $41 million
OTTAWA — The federal government is giving Status of Women Canada more money to pay for the extra workload that comes with its focus on gender equality.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said advancing gender equality is a priority of his government, which includes running proposals through a gender-based analysis of how a certain policy might affect men and women, or boys and girls, in different ways.
The agency responsible for carrying out much of that work has been struggling from cuts the previous Conservative government made to its budget more than a decade ago.
That is about to change, as the economic update released Tuesday earmarked $41 million to increase capacity at Status of Women over six years.
“The new funding is yet another indicator that our government takes gender equality very seriously and is determined to make it a reality,” said Celia Canon, a spokeswoman for Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef.
It will begin with $4 million this fiscal year and ramps up to $8 million annually on an ongoing basis. That is a significant increase to its budget, which was about $36 million last year, including about $20 million in grants and contributions to organizations working on gender-related issues.
The Finance Department said the money will go toward such things as boosting the capacity for engaging with provincial and territorial governments, stronger communications, better strategic policy support and measuring results and delivery.
Diana Sarosi, senior policy adviser at Oxfam Canada, welcomed the funding increase, but said that if the government really wants to make a difference in gender equality, they would give Status of Women $100 million a year.