Alberta officials announced $54.1 million over four years from the federal government to battle gender-based violence at a press conference in Calgary Thursday afternoon. .Tanya Fir, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women and Lisa Hepner, parliamentary secretary to the federal minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth were joined by George Chahal, MP (Calgary Skyview) Jackie Lovely, MLA (Camrose) and Kim Ruse, CEO of women’s shelter Fear Is Not Love to introduce the provincial and federal joint Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. .The funding “adds to the $110 million,” 10-year initiative Alberta already has in the works, investigating “missing and murdered indigenous women and girls” and “human trafficking,” Fir said. .Hepfner announced the funding to carry out the action plan. She said the implementation of the plan will begin by dealing with the perception of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence, through “honest national conversation” and “working with the data we gather from engaged stakeholders.”.She said such a “complex” problem “requires multi-pronged solutions” that consider the “lived experiences” of victims. .“Today's funding will support the Government of Alberta and its partners, so they can reach underserved populations, those most at risk of gender based violence, so they can support crisis services for women and children fleeing violence, and also to increase education and awareness.”.Hepfner emphasized the process of ending this violence “involves shifting the beliefs and attitudes of our men and boys to stop the intergenerational cycle of violence and abuse.”.“And this work can't just be done at the federal level. That's why it's so important provincial and territorial partners like Alberta have rolled up their sleeves and got to work with our government on exactly how we can address this issue.”.“The response must include a minimum of 25% funding dedicated to increasing prevention efforts and it will be guided by our clients three federal priorities, increasing prevention efforts, reaching underserved and at risk populations and stabilizing the gender based violence sector.”.She noted funds will go to organizations such as the YWCA Calgary and Fear Is Not Love, “which do incredible work in supporting people who experienced gender based violence,” as well as services such as a central hotline to be accessible from all provinces and territories and an app that helps victims find a local available shelter. .Fir confirmed the action plan’s blueprints to “end the virus” that is gender-based violence and illustrated how prevalent the problem is “in homes, work sites, in person and online.”.“If we don't discuss it and face it head on, it will continue,” she said. “And that is simply unacceptable. Those who have survived it and those who are experiencing it deserve support. They deserve our collective action to put an end to the virus.".She said the plan will “address the root causes of gender-based violence, support the shift to a culture of consent and (increase) engagement and boys to improve our response to sexual violence and support survivors.”.Chahal offered statistics on how Albertans are impacted by gender-based violence. .“Alberta has some of the highest rates of gender based violence in Canada,” affecting “approximately 43% of Albertans,” he said. “That's 1.8 million in total have experienced at least one incident of sexual violence in their lifetime” .“Eleven million people in Canada have experienced intimate partner violence at least once since the age of 15,” Hepfner said later in the conference. .Other stats to be released during the conference state Alberta as the “fifth highest intimate partner violence” and “fourth highest sexual assault violence” reported to the police in Canada. .When asked how the money will be distributed, the ministers said they currently have an “engagement” survey underway, open until November 17, where they hope to gather data to guide the way funds are to be distributed.
