VICTORIA – Budget 2022 reverses cuts made in 2002, supporting survivors of sexual assault with $22 million to provide stable funding for community-based sexual assault response services.
Starting in 2023-24, the Province will provide annual funding of more than $10 million to service providers who offer victim-centred, trauma-informed, co-ordinated, cross-sector support to survivors of sexual assault.
“Sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence have devastating impacts on survivors, and that’s why government is helping people get the supports they need,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “Nearly 20 years to the day after the previous government chose to eliminate stable annual funding for sexual assault response services, we announced we’re restoring this critical funding so service providers can get back to focusing on providing the care survivors need.”
Every week in B.C., there are an estimated 1,000 physical or sexual assaults against women. Indigenous women and girls, people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities are disproportionately targeted.
The decision to cut stable funding to these critical services forced community-based services providers to spend their time reapplying for funding and fundraising to make up the shortfall, making it harder to provide services for survivors. The funding announced today will allow consistent provision of sexual assault services for survivors, and will support the delivery of co-ordinated, community-based emergency sexual assault response services in regions throughout the province. In the coming months, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General will work to establish a process for allocating the new funding.
Stable funding for sexual assault centres is just one component of a multi-year action plan to end gender-based violence being developed by the Ministry of Finance’s Gender Equity Office and the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Focused engagement will begin on March 8, 2022, to inform the ongoing development of the action plan.
“We applaud this government’s continued commitment to the provision of support for survivors of sexual violence across B.C. We applaud, too, those who work to provide the essential services in communities, large and small, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. It is this collective effort, everyone working together, with stable funding, that will make the most difference in the lives of survivors,” said Ninu Kang, executive director, Ending Violence Association of BC –
Learn More:
For what to do if you or someone you know needs help, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/criminal-justice/victims-of-crime/victimlinkbc
For more information on funding announced in 2021 to support community-based sexual assault response services, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021PSSG0045-001030
For more information on funding announced in 2020 to support community-based sexual assault response service programs, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2020PSSG0033-000947
For detailed profiles on some of the organizations that have received funding and their work, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/ending-gender-based-violence
For statistics on violence against women in B.C., visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/public-safety/domestic-violence
and
https://endingviolence.org/prevention-programs/be-more-than-a-bystander/be-more-than-a-bystander-statistics
To learn more about the Ending Violence Association of BC, visit: https://endingviolence.org/
