As Canada prepares to mark International Women's Day on March 8th, ensuring the safety of Canadians remains essential to advancing gender equality. Gender-based violence remains one of the most serious barriers to women's full participation in society. It also carries significant costs to the Canadian economy each year, affecting families, communities, and workplaces, and impacting justice, health, and social services.
Today, the Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), announced over $4.3 million in funding for eight organizations to expand proven, community-based initiatives that strengthen supports for women and their families experiencing violence.
These investments build on earlier federal funding that has demonstrated impact and will expand access to culturally safe, coordinated, and survivor-centered services in communities across Canada. Together, these initiatives will reduce barriers to justice, strengthen cross-sector collaboration, and expand culturally responsive and trauma-informed services.
Funding is being provided for the following projects:
- Supporting Survivors of Abuse and Brain Injury through Research (SOAR) (Vernon, British Columbia) is receiving funding for their project, Accelerating Impact: Building Capacity to Respond to Intimate Partner Violence-Caused Brain Injury, building national capacity through frontline training and peer supports for survivors experiencing violence-related brain injury.
- Y des femmes de Montréal (Montréal, Quebec) is receiving funding for their project, Project UNIQUE: Learning in Action, delivering multidisciplinary supports to help women address the legal issues and challenges to accessing justice when going through separation or divorce.
- THS Society of Transition Houses (Vancouver, British Columbia) is receiving funding for their project, Cedar Blankets and Beyond: Enhancing Wraparound Supports for Indigenous Women and Children Across BC, expanding culturally safe wraparound supports for Indigenous survivors in four regions of the province.
- Public Legal Information Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador) is receiving funding for their project, Scaling Access to Justice Supports for Coastal Communities in Labrador, improving legal information and navigation services for survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence in remote communities.
- The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Ontario) is receiving funding for their project, Child Sex Trafficking: Scaling Promising Practices in Pediatric Health Care and Community Response Protocols, expanding trauma-informed pediatric care and community response models for children affected by or at risk of sex trafficking.
- Institut PEVC (Protection des enfants en contexte de violence conjugale) (Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec) is receiving funding for their project, The PEVC Model: Application in Intercultural or Immigration Context, strengthening child protection responses to intimate partner violence in immigrant and racialized families.
- PLEA Community Services Society of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC) is receiving additional funding (original federal investment of $412,305) for their project, Redefining Masculinity: Preventing GBV by educating youth about toxic masculinity and not being a by-stander, scaling the delivery of its youth-focused, gender-based violence protection workshops.
- Alberta Council of Women's Shelters (Edmonton, Alberta) is receiving funding for their project, Addressing the Gaps: Upscaling Intersectional Assessments, expanding the use of its survivor-centred and trauma-informed assessment tools in partnership with organizations across diverse communities.
Ending violence is not only about protection. It is about ensuring women can live, work, and lead without fear. Women and Gender Equality Canada continues to strengthen federal action on gender-based violence with the recent Budget 2025 commitment of $223.4 million over five years, including $44.7 million in ongoing funding, to advance the vision of a Canada free from gender-based violence. A strong Canadian economy is built when women are safe, supported and empowered.
