Liberals unveil strategy on gender-based violence
Plan includes millions for centre of excellence
The Liberal government has unveiled its strategy on genderbased violence, which includes creating a centre of excellence within Status of Women Canada devoted to understanding the problem so they can get better at trying to solve it.
Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef said the money will help collect and share national data on genderbased violence that other levels of government and those on the front lines are unable to gather on their own.
“It is incredibly important that our actions, how we spend money, the way that we deliver programming, is based on knowledge and evidence and that we share that knowledge across the country,” Monsef said in an interview Monday.
The Gender-Based Violence Knowledge Centre, which will act as a hub to help prevent federal departments and agencies from working at cross purposes, will receive $77.5 million over five years – plus $16 million a year going forward – for research, data collection and programming.
That makes up the majority of the $101 million over five years – plus $21 million annually going forward – the Liberal government committed to the gender-based violence strategy in the March budget.
The rest of the money will be spread across several departments as part of a federal plan aimed at prevention, providing better support for survivors and helping the justice system become more responsive to the needs of those who experience sexual assault or other forms of violence.
The announcement came with some high-level announcements – $2.4 million over five years to make sure RCMP officers get training on how to be more sensitive to both gender and culture, for example – but Philippe Charlebois, a spokesman for Monsef, said specific details will come later.
Monsef said creating a picture of gender-based violence across the country that better reflects the times – such as by studying issues like online violence and harassment – will be among the research priorities.
So will learning more about different impacts on diverse populations, including visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples and the LGBT community.
The strategy was designed to be federal, not national, in scope, but Monsef said there is much to do within her jurisdiction.
“I think it’s critical that we begin to co-ordinate our efforts across departments within the federal government and address the silos that exist,” she said.
She said she nonetheless expects to be able to co-ordinate efforts nationwide.
Lise Martin, executive director of Women’s Shelters Canada, welcomed that willingness to work together as a first step towards a national strategy, but said she would want to see the provinces and territories agree to some shared goals.
“It’s about making sure that women have access to comparable levels of services and protection,” she said.