April 16, 2024 – The Ending Violence Association of Canada (EVA Canada) welcomes new federal government commitments in Budget 2024 that make some effort to respond to the epidemic of gender-based violence (GBV). These include investments to address workplace sexual harassment and to provide advisory and legal services for victims of workplace sexual harassment, investments to combat online harm and hate against the 2SLGBTQI+ community, and investments for the buy back of assault-style firearms.
EVA Canada also recognizes measures in Budget 2024 that while not explicitly directed toward addressing GBV have the potential to address some of its systemic and root causes.
More specifically, EVA Canada welcomes measures in Budget 2024 to address the affordable housing crisis, which is a key issue affecting survivors of gender-based violence. While these investments are an important step forward in creating more affordable housing over the long term, we remain concerned that the urgent need for safe, accessible, affordable housing for survivors of intimate partner and other forms of gender-based violence have not been adequately addressed. Women and children living in violent situations cannot wait another day let alone years for access to housing.
EVA Canada is also pleased to see $500 million over five years in federal funding for a new Youth Mental Health Fund. Given significant barriers in access to mental health services across the country, improving supports for youth mental health is imperative, particularly for 2SLGBTQI+ and Indigenous youth who face distinct challenges in accessing relevant services and supports. We urge government to note that sexual violence and abuse unfortunately remains a common experience among youth, and that such violence often carries significant mental health consequences. We are hopeful that these new investments consider the mental health needs of both youth survivors of sexual violence, as well as the organizations that support them through funding to specialized sexual violence services.
Despite these initiatives, the federal government did not further bolster its National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The federal government’s 2022 investment of $539 million over five years to create and implement a National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (NAP) along with provincial and territorial-level commitments and actions have the potential to initiate significant transformative and systemic change to respond to GBV. However, Budget 2024 says nothing about the Federal Strategy to End GBV, or any measures to ensure additional urgent investments are made to stabilize the GBV sector.
In particular, EVA Canada is concerned that there continues to be limited investments to ensure the stabilization of the sexual violence sector, including sexual assault centres and specialized sexual violence services across the country. Given that sexual assault centres were largely overlooked in the first year of the implementation of the National Action Plan, it is imperative that the federal government ensure this significant funding gap to sexual assault centres and related services is addressed in a consistent and comprehensive manner. Sexual assault centres represent core services within the sector and are an integral part of the response and prevention efforts to address GBV. However, currently, many sexual assault centres continue to rely on fundraisers and time-limited and precarious project-based funding to provide what should be recognized as essential public health services to survivors of sexual violence.
EVA Canada also welcomes several other initiatives in the budget. These include the introduction of national universal pharmacare, including coverage of contraceptives, initiatives to better support the care economy, and investments to co-develop with Indigenous partners a regional Red Dress Alert system.
For additional feminist analysis of the Budget 2024, EVA Canada will be participating in a virtual media event hosted by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and Oxfam Canada on Wednesday, April 17 at 9:00am EDT. Register for the event here.