The federal government is providing $1 million to the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity for a project to to support survivors of gender-based violence in Vancouver.
This includes people who have been under-served, such as Indigenous women and their communities, children and youth, ethno-cultural women, women who are newcomers, refugees or non-status, LGBTQ2 communities and gender non-binary people, and women living with disabilities.
The funds will test and evaluate a survivor-centric and trauma-informed approach to supporting criminalized women survivors of gender-based violence.
Dr. Hedy Fry, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, made the announcement on behalf of Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, in Vancouver.
Dr. Kate Shannon, Executive Director of the Centre, says, “We are pleased that the Government of Canada has invested in this work. Today’s announcement will help advance gender equity by supporting criminalized women and gender-diverse survivors of gender-based violence to access social, health and legal supports to help them reclaim their lives.”
She adds: “Working closely with our community partners, this project aims to work alongside women and gender diverse people’s lived experience in developing best practices in intersecting trauma-informed supports and evidence-based policies that will affect change and agency in a gender-based violence response.”
The Centre is affiliated with the University of British Columbia and hosted at Providence Health Care.
The model will provide feedback and information on how best to improve services and supports to women who are struggling to get the help they need, to reclaim their lives and recover.
“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 it in all of its forms,” says Minister Monsef.
“I’m glad the Government of Canada is providing $1 million to the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity,” says Dr. Fry. “These funds will increase the capacity of eligible women’s organizations and Indigenous organizations serving women and women’s groups to advance gender equality and provide essential services for women in need. It’s crucial that we have institutions in BC that offer peer support, survivor-centric and trauma-informed approaches when helping cis and trans women survivors of gender-based violence.”
The information in this story is also provided in a Government of Canada news release here.
