$1M more in budget for rape crisis centres

Attorney General Caroline Mulroney has announced a $1-million budget increase for the province’s rape crisis centres for the next fiscal year — money that falls far short of what they’d been expecting.

Under a gender-based violence plan unveiled by the Liberal government a year ago, the centres were to receive almost $4 million this fiscal year and almost $4 million the next. The Ford government has frozen their funding since taking office last June.

Tuesday’s announcement is for one year only and shared among the approximately 40 such centres in the province. New Democrat MPP Suze Morrison — herself a survivor of sexual assault — called the money “minuscule one-time funds that amount to nothing more than a drop in the bucket.”

In a statement, the Ministry of the Attorney General said budgets of a number of programs for victims of crime would continue to remain the same for 2019-20 while a review of services is under way.

“We recognize the important work of victim services organizations across the province and are committed to supporting survivors of sexual violence and their families,” Mulroney said.

The rape crisis centres had been counting on a 30 per cent budget increase over three years to help them cope with an increase in demand amid the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.