To make Quebec safer for women, Ottawa is granting 97.3 million to support its initiatives already underway, as well as to strengthen the numerous organizations already busy preventing sexual and domestic violence.
Gender-based violence is a persistent and worrying problem, said Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, who noted the terrifying statistic: A woman is killed every two days in Canada — often by a spouse.
The announcement was made Friday, in Quebec City, by representatives of the federal and provincial governments who signed a bilateral agreement providing for the terms of financing.
The federal government launched its National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence in 2021. This sum of 97.3 million over four years is the share that goes to Quebec.
When the federal government created its program, “we said: ‘listen, we have a game plan, we would like you to give us the money’,” argued Martine Biron, minister responsible for the Status of Women. .
This agreement is recognition of Quebec’s expertise and its ambitions, she added.
The minister thus recalled various initiatives already in place such as courts specializing in sexual and domestic violence, and the possibility of imposing anti-reconciliation bracelets on perpetrators of violence. The funds will also be used to finance various organizations, to hire staff, to refine crisis units and for accommodation for women leaving a violent living situation — many projects contained in the strategy Rebuild of the Quebec government.
We had already invested 462 million, said Minister Biron: “and now we are going to do more, because we have more money. »
More details will follow.