Territorial ministers seek full funding for national plan on gender-based violence

Minister Rechie Valdez, Canada’s minister for women and gender equality, and secretary of state for small business and tourism. (Submitted by the Government of Canada)

By Avery Zingel, CBC News, RCI

Ministers meet with federal counterpart in Yellowknife about tackling gendered violence

Amid the federal government’s bid to reduce spending, territorial ministers are asking the Carney government to fully fund a national plan to end gender-based violence.

Women and gender equality ministers for the N.W.T., Nunavut and Yukon met with their federal counterpart, Rechie Valdez, last week. They asked her to secure funding for the remaining six years of the national plan’s 10-year lifespan.

In an interview, Valdez said she’s committed to backing the plan, which was originally announced in November 2022, even though the federal finance minister has asked ministers to find savings within their departments.

Last week, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne directed Cabinet ministers to find areas to reduce spending by 7.5 per cent starting in 2026, 10 per cent in 2027 and 15 per cent in 2028.

Asked whether her department would see any reduction in programs or services, Valdez said her department is seeking “more clarity around the details” from the Prime Minister’s office.

N.W.T. Status of Women Minister Lucy Kuptana said territorial governments want firm commitments on the plan’s funding. Funds from Women and Gender Equality Canada flow to the N.W.T.’s Gender Equity Division, which works with Status of Women, Native Women’s Association, Northern Mosaic Network and shelter networks.

Military spending has implication for women, girls

Aside from spending cuts, Prime Minister Mark Carney also pledged to NATO allies in June to increase military spending to five percent of Canada’s GDP by 2035.

As the federal government pushes to fast track resource development projects and pledges billions to militarize Canada and the North, Kuptana said there similarly need to be resources and services for women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people.

From the time of the fur traders, to the establishment of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line, increasing industrialization and militarization of Northern communities have historically brought violence upon women and girls, said Kuptana.

“Women and families were affected [deeply] by all of that,” she said.

In a meeting with all three ministers, Valdez also heard that housing is key to ending gender-based violence, and these disparities which make women vulnerable are more prevalent in the North.

Valdez said she’ll push on commitments under the remaining years of the national action plan to support frontline workers, especially through the Women’s Shelter Network.

Programs educating men and boys 

Yukon’s Minister for Women and Gender Equity, Jeanie McLean, said much of the work achieved in the Yukon in the last 10 years has been in part because of the direct access to cabinet through the federal minister.

She said the Yukon government matches federal funding from the national plan. Among other things, it uses it to help fund First Nations projects educating men and boys to help end violence against women.

McLean, who is also the Yukon’s education minister, said she is considering curriculum-based education for grades 6 to 9, replicating programs like the Nova Scotia-born GuysWork, which explores alternatives to pervasive and unhealthy norms around masculinity.

McLean said she has also met with national Indigenous organizations looking to connect the goals of the national action plan to end gender based violence and MMIWG in areas of justice reform and human trafficking.

Territories have responsibilities for community safety and justice, but the federal government holds “tremendous responsibility” for reform on release conditions considering emergent technologies that enable digital abuse, she said.

“Women particularly can be tracked just on their devices on Snapchat, on all of these other types of platforms. That needs to be emphasized at the federal level with our criminal justice system,” said McLean.

Fostering safer digital environments for women and girls and bringing more women into technology fields are part of the solution, said McLean.