The Ending Violence Association of Canada (EVA Canada) joins with advocates across the country who contributed to the development of a Roadmap for the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence to issue a joint statement in response to the federal government’s release on November 9, 2022 of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, which comes nearly two years after the 2021 Joint Declaration for a Canada Free of GBV.
We are pleased to see some key recommendations put forth by advocates included, and we applaud its intention to prevent violence, address root causes, provide supports to survivors, fill persistent gaps, and engage all people in Canada. However, the document released last week remains too high-level, not far-reaching enough, and therefore insufficient to reach its goal of effectively addressing the systemic nature of GBV.
As a national organization that works closely with community-based sexual violence organizations and networks across the country, EVA Canada is particularly concerned about limited sexual violence-specific recommendations and actions included in the Framework.
The joint statement highlights concerns in the following 6 areas:
- Limited national level actions
- Framing suggested actions as optional
- Key recommendations missing
- Limited focus on systemic change
- No mention of meaningful accountability and independent oversight
- Lack of commitment to sustained and escalating investment
EVA Canada is hopeful that through continued engagement and oversight from advocates, the Framework can be developed into a fully-fledged National Action Plan that will bring about the systemic changes needed to prevent and end gender-based violence.