Advocates welcome $22M in funding for B.C.’s sexual assault services

B.C.’s budget promises $22 million in annual funding for the province’s community-based sexual assault support services — a move advocates are saying is long overdue.

While many women choose not to report sexual assault to the police, the province says there are an estimated 1,000 physical and sexual assaults committed against women each week in British Columbia.

“Indigenous women and girls, people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities are disproportionately targeted,” noted a statement from the Ministry of Public Safety.

On Monday the province said this will begin to reverse a 20-year-old cut, allowing organizations to better ensure their services will be consistently funded and available to survivors.

“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 statement continued.

Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, Grace Lore, says more than 50 per cent of women in B.C. have experienced physical or sexual violence since the age of 16, meaning the province is unsafe for far too many of its residents.

“Having been on the front line supporting survivors, I know how hard it is to provide sexual assault response services that are trauma-informed, survivor-centered, and culturally appropriate when you don’t know where your next round of funding is coming from,” she said in a statement.

TW // sexual assault

For years, unstable funding for sexual assault response services has made it difficult for people to access supports. We’re changing that, with $22M over 3 years to provide stable, annual funding, so people can get the help they need. https://t.co/DHQsk6J1YG pic.twitter.com/kljSI4dpsu

— BC Government News (@BCGovNews) March 7, 2022

Since 2002, Shahnaz Rahman with the Surrey Women’s Centre says the non-profit has been at the mercy of a project-based funding scheme.

“It just adds more pressure on a small nonprofit like ours, where we have to consistently write applications, make a case and prove the work that’s been done,” she said.

Now, staff can be freed up to focus on providing services like counselling, awareness-raising, and advocacy.

“It really gives us the time that we would otherwise allocate to the administrative task of applying for funding to direct services that our clients are actually looking for,” Rahman said.

“In the anti-violence sector, the need has always been greater than what we are able to serve.”

Calling the announcement a good start, Rahman says groups like her are anxiously awaiting more details on how the funding will be distributed.

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Richa Karkee, the manager of Violence Prevention Services at DIVERSEcity, says this funding will allow the organization to continue to meet the specific needs of newcomers and racialized women who have been sexually assaulted.

“Sexual assault is such a complex issue that has an impact on individuals, our society, and our communities as a whole,” she said.

“This core funding will allow us to be more responsive to the needs of our community members, to the needs of women that we serve, and provide care that is led by them, that is more trauma-informed and culturally safe and respectful.”

For example, Karkee says, navigating the criminal justice system, the family court system, or the healthcare system can be particularly difficult for women who don’t speak English as a first language, or who have precarious immigration status.

While welcoming the announcement, Karkee says responding to sexual assault after it has happened is vital for survivors — but more needs to be done.

“When it comes to violence prevention, no amount of funding is enough because it’s such a systemic issue. It takes a very long-term commitment to break the cycle.”