Report finds gender-based violence costing B.C. over $1 billion per year

On top of the cost to survivors, families, and communities, a new report has calculated the extraordinary financial cost of failing to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) in B.C.

On Tuesday, the YWCA BC published The Cost of Inaction: Measuring the Economic Impact of Gender-Based Violence in BC which found that GBV burdens B.C. with an estimated $1.12 billion every year.

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The YWCA BC says 177,000 people in the province experience some form of GBV per year, and women and gender-diverse people are disproportionately affected.

“Anyone can experience GBV, but women, girls and gender-diverse individuals — especially those who are Indigenous, Black or racialized — are at far greater risk,” it adds.

The report says calls for change have not been met with the level of response or investment required to match the scale of the crisis.

CEO Erin Seeley says the province could save the $1.12 billion cost by investing in preventing GBV.

“The majority of those costs are related to sexual and physical assaults — and that’s reported assaults,” Seeley explained.

“We know gender-based violence is significantly underreported, so we believe these estimates are very conservative. But what you see is policing costs, justice costs, housing and supports for survivors. Those add up and we are saying that if you invest, say, on average, $1,000 per participant in a preventative education program, you could save $15,000 per sexual or physical assault investigation.”

She says awareness of the issue has increased in recent years, but rates of GBV continue to rise.

“So much so that the provincial government actually acknowledged that there’s an epidemic in relation to gender-based violence,” said Seeley, citing the June 2025 results of an independent review of sexual and intimate partner violence in the B.C. legal system, commissioned by Attorney General Niki Sharma.

The report advocates for men and boys to be a part of the solution.

“It’s imperative that it’s in the education system,” said Seeley.

“I think we see, through social media, the increasing influence on men and boys. We want to be able to have opportunities to show different ways that masculinity can show up and that men and boys can hold each other accountable to being able to treat others with respect, especially to treat women with safety and respect. And I think you have to start very young, and we can see through some of the interventions that are happening in schools. There’s the opportunity — there is some curriculum around this — but we’d like to see it in the community as well and give men the opportunity to stand up and really champion this.”

She says education must be coupled with investment in critical support for survivors, including transitional housing and other emotional and economic support.

“We’re not saying it’s either/or. We’re saying it’s got to be both and that you’ll actually save money as a government by investing in prevention.”

As well as saving lives, she says prevention has the added benefit of supporting the economic participation of women and gender-diverse people.

“If you’re not losing time because of workplace harassment or fear in your workplace, you’re working, you’re contributing to the economy.”

Seeley says the YWCA BC is working closely with the province, and commended Sharma for prioritizing analysis of elements of the justice system related to GBV. But she says the government needs to apply the report to making decisions about the next budget.

The report closes with specific recommendations to bolster prevention, the legal response to GBV, and with a call to appoint a VBV Commissioner to “ensure sustained, cross-ministry leadership and measurable progress.”

It also lays out the province’s opportunities to prevent and counteract workplace sexual harassment.

“We really believe that there’s some evidence here to show how these investments can benefit all of us in British Columbia,” said Seeley.

—With files from Raynaldo Suarez