Government of Canada supports survivors of gender-based violence in Montreal

MONTREAL, March 7, 2019 /CNW/ - Ending gender-based violence is crucial if we are serious about giving everyone the same opportunities to join and grow Canada's middle class. We all benefit when women, girls and people of all genders are safe and free to live their lives to the fullest.

Today, Marc Miller, Member of Parliament for Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, on behalf of the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, announced federal funding to support survivors of gender-based violence in Montreal. This includes people who have been underserved, such as Indigenous women and their communities, children and youth, ethno-cultural women, women who are newcomers, refugees or non-status, and women living with disabilities.

Y des femmes de Montréal (YWCA Montreal) is receiving $850,000 in funding for their project entitled "The Graduation Approach and Gender-Based Violence." The project will adapt and test the Graduation Approach support model to improve the services available to newly arrived immigrant women who are survivors of gender-based violence, regardless of their legal status. Project activities will help these women and their families cope with their loss, improve their economic security and develop the ability to be independent within the community.

Last year, Minister Monsef announced more than $50 million in funding for nearly 60 projects in communities across the country, including this one announced today, to support survivors of gender-based violence and their families.

Quotes

"Thousands of women and children in Montreal count on the services of the YWCA every year. With this investment, we are funding women's organizations like Y des femmes de Montréal that provide essential services to support survivors and their families. This funding envelope was developed in partnership with leaders from the women's sector, whose advice continues to inform Canada's first Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. Leaders asked for more dollars over a longer period of time to meet the ever growing demand for their services, a simplified application process, and resources to help provide supports for the most underserved and marginalized survivors of gender-based violence. Our government listened. Gender-based violence must not be tolerated, and we will continue to work with survivors, community partners, the private sector and other orders of government to end GBV in all of its forms."

The Honourable Maryam Monsef, P.C., M.P.
Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality

"The Y des femmes has been supporting women in Montreal for over 100 years and it is vital we continue to support their important work. That is why I was pleased to visit with them to discuss the $850,000 in federal funding for their innovative approach to supporting victims of gender-based violence. Our government's Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-based Violence would not be possible without community partners like the Y des femmes de Montréal."

Marc Miller
Member of Parliament for Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations

"We are very pleased that our comprehensive support project for recent immigrant women who have been victims of gender-based violence has received this funding from the Department for Women and Gender Equality. This new project will make it possible to test and adapt the Graduation Approach in order to meet the victims' needs, and do so by factoring in each one's priority needs in the various aspects of her life (housing, education, employment, health, etc.) Adapting this approach and working together with many partners will help with not just making concrete long-term changes in the lives of these women, but it will then be able to be implemented on a broader scale and help improve the practices for supporting women victims of gender-based violence."

Mélanie Thivierge, Présidente-directrice Générale
Y des femmes de Montréal (YWCA Montreal)

Quick Facts

• In June 2017, the Department for Women and Gender Equality (formerly Status of Women Canada) announced the first-ever federal Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence.
• To date, the Government of Canada has invested over $200 million across government to prevent gender-based violence, support survivors and their families, and create more responsive legal and justice systems.
• The Promising practices to support survivors and their families call for concepts is the largest amount of funding ever announced for programming to specifically support diverse groups of gender-based violence survivors and their families.
• Some populations are more likely to experience violence and may face unique barriers and challenges that put them at particular risk (Statistics Canada, 2015).
• Gender-based violence can have lifelong impacts on an individual's physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health. Additionally, the effects can be serious and costly. Annually, the economic impact of intimate partner violence and sexual assault is estimated to be over $12 billion.

Related Product

Backgrounder

Department for Women and Gender Equality's Gender-Based Violence Program

Following the June 2017 announcement of It's Time: Canada's Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence, the Department for Women and Gender Equality (formerly Status of Women Canada) launched the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Program in January 2018.

The GBV Program complements the department's Women's Program, and helps organizations working in the GBV sector to develop and implement promising practices to address gaps in supports for survivors and their families.

While violence affects people of all genders, ages, cultures, ethnicities, geographic locations, and socio-economic backgrounds, some populations are more at-risk and face additional barriers to accessing services. The GBV Program responds to this need by providing funding to eligible organizations at the local, regional and national levels for projects that address gaps in supports for specific groups of survivors, including Indigenous women and their communities, and other underserved populations, such as children and youth, LGBTQ2 communities and gender non-binary people, non-status/refugee/immigrant women, seniors, women living in official language minority communities, women living in northern, rural and remote communities, and women living with disabilities and exceptionalities.

Call for concepts: Promising Practices to Support Survivors and their Families

In January 2018, Minister Monsef announced $20 million in funding for a call for concepts as part of the new Gender-Based Violence Program. Following Budget 2018, the funding for the Gender-Based Violence Program more than doubled so that more organizations, such as sexual assault crisis centers, are better able to help population groups at the highest risk of experiencing violence.

The GBV Program piloted an innovative approach to supporting community organizations, which includes:

• a longer funding period of up to five years;
• a two-stage application process, which reduced the administrative burden for applicant organizations. Less information was required in the initial concept phase, which meant a leaner application process for organizations;
• eligible recipients were expanded to include labour groups and unions; provinces, territories, municipalities and their agencies; research organizations and institutes, centers of expertise, educational institutions (i.e. universities, colleges, CÉGEPs, secondary schools, school boards/school districts), as well as public health institutions, hospitals, and health care service providers; and
• testing and evaluation of promising practices is emphasized, which will lead to clear impact and results for Canadians.

Project

Today's announcement profiled a project in Montreal that is receiving $850,000 in federal funding:

Y des femmes de Montréal (YWCA Montreal)
Project title: The Graduation Approach and Gender Based-Violence

This project will adapt and test a support model based on the Graduation Approach to improve the services available to newly arrived women survivors of gender-based violence, regardless of their legal status. Project activities will help these women and their families cope with their loss, improve their economic security and develop the ability to be independent within the community.

The Graduation Approach was first introduced by the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee in 2002 to help reduce poverty. It is a sequenced, multi-sector intervention that supports and enables the poorest and most vulnerable families to achieve sustainable incomes and escape poverty. By adapting the Graduation Approach to issues of gender-based violence, the project intends to close the service gaps for newly-arrived immigrant women who are survivors of gender-based violence and bring about transformative change.

Incorporated in 1875, the Y des femmes de Montréal is the city's longest-standing not-for-profit organization. The Y des femmes de Montréal works with community stakeholders to reduce social inequality and addresses all forms of violence against women and girls. It provides supports in four main areas; employment, housing, youth, and community services.

Associated Links

• Department for Women and Gender Equality's Gender-Based Violence Program
• It's Time: Canada's Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence
• Y des femmes de Montréal (YWCA Montreal)

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SOURCE Department for Women and Gender Equality

Braeson Holland, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality, 343-549-8825; Valérie Haché, Communications Officer, Department for Women and Gender Equality, 819-420-8684