Province, feds announce $12.5M to battle gender-based violence

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The Manitoba and federal governments announced a total of more than $12.5 million in funding Monday to combat gender-based violence.

The $6.35 million in provincial funding and $6.2 million in federal cash will support 19 community initiatives across the province. The funding agreement is part of the second year of a 10-year national action plan.

“As a province and as a country and as a territory, we must work together to end gender-based violence and create a safer future for girls, women and gender-diverse citizens,” Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said at a Monday news conference.

Fontaine said much of the work now is in response to gender-based violence. She would like to see that shift to preventing it from happening in the first place.

Nearly 45 per cent of women in Canada reported experiencing intimate partner violence in their lifetime, according to Statistics Canada data from 2018. The same report shows 61 per cent of Indigenous women experienced the same type of violence.

Women living in rural areas are almost twice as likely to face gender-based violence than women living in urban areas.

Addressing prevention with men and boys is key, said Marci Ien, federal Women and Gender Equality and Youth Minister.

Manitoba was the first province to sign on to the national action plan to end gender-based violence just over a year ago. Now, all the provinces and territories have joined.

Each province and territory has different needs. They collaborate with the government to find what fits best for them, said Ien.

“Gender-based violence is one of the most pervasive, deadly, deeply rooted human rights violations of our time,” Ien said. “I’m looking forward to continuing this fight for true gender equality. This fight can’t be done alone. This is a partnership.”

Ka Ni Kanichihk, the Women’s Resource Centre in Brandon, Clan Mothers Healing Village, The Pas Family Resource Centre and Blue Thunderbird Family Care are some of the organizations that will receive funding.

Dana Arabe, executive director of Blue Thunderbird Family Care, called the support “phenomenal.”

The organization applied for funding for the second year and received $235,000. That money will go towards their grandmothers council program, where the community can learn from their wisdom, Arabe said.

“This funding is really holding up the beauty of the Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing,” Arabe said. “It allows for opportunity to empower, embrace, and to support our children, our youth, our girls and our women to love themselves, love their families and come together as a community.”

Last year was about building relationships and understanding with the different levels of government. This year will take that knowledge of prevention and support those in the community, Arabe said.

jura.mcilraith@freepress.mb.ca