Horizontal initiatives: 2020-21 Departmental Results Report, Women and Gender Equality Canada

It’s Time: Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence (the Strategy) is the Government of Canada’s response to gender-based violence (GBV). Its initiatives are organized across three pillars: preventing gender-based violence; supporting survivors and their families; and promoting responsive legal and justice systems. The Strategy takes a whole-of-government approach to prevent and address GBV, bringing together federal initiatives and aligning with provincial and territorial efforts, enabling enhanced collaboration. Women and Gender Equality Canada ensures the overall coordination of the Strategy through interdepartmental structures and policy dialogue with other key actors. In 2021-22, WAGE will build on the existing strategy and will align efforts with the Government’s two related mandate commitments: (1) to develop a National Action Plan to End GBV and (2) to address the findings of the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, with concrete action, in collaboration with the lead Minister responsible, the Minister of Crown and Indigenous Relations Canada.

• The Government of Canada is investing nearly $220 million between 2017-18 and 2022-23, and over $40 million per year ongoing starting in 2023-24, to launch and expand the Strategy. Funds allocated in 2017-18 included $100.9 million over five years, and $20.7 million per year ongoing, to support the implementation of the GBV Strategy.
• Additional funds allocated in 2018-19 provided $97.5 million over five years, starting in 2018-19, and $22 million per year ongoing, to expand the Strategy.

Overall, the Strategy advances shared outcomes through the following actions undertaken by the six partner departments:

• Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) received funding to establish the GBV Knowledge Centre, enhance data collection and research on GBV, develop a strategy that engages youth about online GBV, fund the development and implementation of promising practices that support underserved survivors through the GBV Program, and work with stakeholders to develop and implement a framework to prevent and address GBV at post-secondary institutions (PSIs).
• Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) received funding to support the implementation and testing of programs to prevent child maltreatment and teen/youth dating violence, and to support the development of training and resources for health and allied professionals about GBV, trauma-informed care, and safety planning.
• Public Safety Canada (PS) received funding to enhance efforts to address online child exploitation and develop preventative bullying and cyberbullying initiatives.
• Department of National Defence (DND) received funding to enhance Family Crisis Teams and provide support to sexual assault centres in close proximity to the primary Canadian Forces bases to support members of the Canadian Armed Forces and their families affected by sexual misconduct.
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) received funding to develop training on cultural awareness and humility, and the use of trauma-informed approaches. These investments are improving capacity across the RCMP to effectively respond to those affected by violence in a gender and culturally sensitive and responsive manner, reinforce understanding of survivors' rights, and raise awareness of myths pertaining to sexual assaults. The RCMP also received funding to increase its capacity to combat online child sexual exploitation, in support of domestic and international operational investigations, covert online operations, specialized victim identification investigations, and operational research and technological solutions. The funding will also enhance capacity to identify Canadian transnational child sex offenders.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) received funding to address GBV through enhancements to the Settlement Program, including developing a coordinated approach across the settlement sector, GBV training for settlement workers, and enhanced place-based services for clients.

Learn more about the Strategy

The strategy promotes a whole-of-government approach and includes membership of funded federal partners, and other complementary federal partners, who support the overarching goals of the Strategy. For example, by leading the horizontal coordination process on the GBV Strategy, WAGE is engaging its partners to ensure synergies with the Family Violence Initiative and the Interdepartmental Working Group on Violence and Victimization.

Horizontal Initiative Oversight Committee and Steering Committee

Federal efforts to prevent and address GBV are being undertaken by numerous federal departments and agencies, in order to address this issue from various angles. WAGE, as Canada’s policy lead on GBV efforts, is responsible for coordinating and overseeing the implementation of the Federal GBV Strategy and other federal efforts, in partnership and coordination with other federal partners. A federal oversight committee at the Assistant Deputy Minister level, chaired by the ADM of WAGE, and comprised of all partner departments and agencies working to address GBV. This committee will serve to ensure that the activities are properly managed and that reporting is timely and accurate. More specifically, this committee will meet, at minimum, on a quarterly basis and will be responsible for: development of results and resource frameworks; data collection and data integration; monitoring of indicators and spending; reporting content and frequency; issues management; liaison and ongoing engagement with central agencies, with other government committees, and with external stakeholders; coordination of any horizontal evaluations and audits; and communications strategies. This oversight committee will be supported by a Steering Committee at the Director General level, representing all oversight committee member departments.

Secretariat for the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence

Through this submission, a dedicated Secretariat will be established at WAGE to coordinate the ongoing work towards the development and implementation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence, and to continue engagement with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous peoples, gender-based violence experts, stakeholders and most importantly survivors of GBV.

The establishment of a Secretariat within WAGE will allow the Department to increase and consolidate its capacity within the federal government and strengthen governance, engagement, consultation and coordination with provincial and territorial governments, municipalities, Indigenous partners, and stakeholders including community-based stakeholders, researchers, and survivors.

The Secretariat will serve as a focal point for actions and policies related to GBV across Canada. It will directly support:

• Enhanced federal leadership, coordination, and governance through OGD coordination; enhanced PT coordination; stakeholder relations, including support to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality’s GBV Advisory Committee;
• Provision of strategic evidence-based direction, policy and program advice across the Government of Canada;
• Knowledge mobilization;
• Capacity to monitor results ; and
• Development of a GBV NAP.

Federal, Provincial/Territorial Forum of Ministers responsible for the Status of Women

The Federal-Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Forum of Ministers responsible for the Status of Women, which was established in 1972, meets annually at the ministerial level to share knowledge and information, explore ways to advance equality for women and girls, and undertake collaborative initiatives in priority areas, as agreed upon by consensus. One of these collaborative areas is preventing and addressing GBV. WAGE is the federal chair of the FPT Forum, and co-chairs with a provincial/territorial Minister Responsible for the Status of Women on a rotational basis. In addition to annual face-to-face meetings, ministerial teleconference occur on an ad hoc basis to discuss key issues. Senior officials-level meetings and conference calls are held throughout the year to advance collaborative work mandated by the ministers at the annual FPT Ministerial Meeting. To carry out the work set out at the annual FPT Ministerial Meeting, task teams made up of FPT officials are established. These task teams conduct their respective work/projects and report back to ministers the following year. A Task Team has been established to advance work related to GBV.

Advisory Groups

Advisory Group(s) of GBV experts and stakeholders will be used, as appropriate, to engage in relevant issues related to enhancements and responsiveness of GBV organizations.

In 2020-21, WAGE continued to operationalize the GBV Knowledge Centre and its online platform, launched in December 2018. As the focal point of the GBV Strategy, the Knowledge Centre facilitates the alignment of existing federal resources, leads and supports policy development, coordinates federal initiatives, supports the sharing of research and data, ensures alignment with provincial and territorial strategies, accounts publicly for results, and leads knowledge mobilization.

WAGE’s GBV Knowledge Centre online platform is a hub that compiles GBV resources, statistics and research, provides information on federal funding opportunities related to GBV, and manages searchable databases that brings together data, evidence, and federal initiatives on GBV.

In 2020-21, to provide quick access to resources for people affected by GBV during the pandemic, an increased number of tools and information were uploaded on the online platform, including a landing page on GBV crisis lines in each jurisdiction. The searchable database on federal resources was also expanded to add 42 federally funded GBV-related research reports and a new web knowledge series called “Research in-Brief” was developed in order to provide short summaries of WAGE-funded research reports. Between April 2020 and March 2021, the online platform was visited almost 64,000 times. During the same period, the GBV Knowledge Centre hosted 11 webinars featuring researchers, GBV and knowledge mobilization experts, public servants and funding recipients. There were more than 1,400 participants from federal organizations, provincial and territorial governments, academic institutions, and national and international non-governmental organizations attended.

In March 2020, the Knowledge Centre launched a general survey to measure performance and users’ experiences using the GVB online platform. In 2020-21, the results of this survey were analyzed, demonstrating the following results:

• 65% of respondents were extremely or very satisfied with the usefulness of the information found on the online platform;
• 84% of respondents have already used, or intend to use the information; and
• 68% of respondents were extremely or very likely to recommend the GBV Knowledge Centre online platform to others.

In 2020-21WAGE undertook and expanded upon a number of initiatives to prevent and address GBV:

• Worked with key stakeholders to develop and deliver programming to support the design and implementation of The Framework to Prevent and Address GBV at Post-Secondary Institutions (PSIs). Specific achievements included targeting funds to priority areas related to GBV in PSIs;
• Supported organizations working in the GBV sector to develop and implement promising practices that address gaps in supports for survivors and their families. In 2020-21, through the GBV Program, approximately 60 projects were funded. To date, more than 350 new partnerships have been created, facilitating the development of training on cultural safety and trauma informed service delivery, transformation care for LGBTQ2S survivors of GBV, and piloting new supports the help survivors of GBV navigate the legal system. Examples of projects funded:
  • The Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women is receiving $1 million over four years to develop and evaluate a “Community of Care” approach. The approach is being designed to improve supports to African Nova Scotian and Indigenous women survivors of gender-based violence.
  • Shelter Movers is receiving $780,000 over four years to assess the impact and effectiveness of a no-cost moving and storage service for women and children fleeing abuse. A trauma-informed approach is being used, focusing on safety and empowerment at every stage of service delivery.
  • The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters is receiving $998,730 over five years to evaluate the effectiveness of a women-centred approach to service delivery for survivors of domestic violence, with the use of enhanced assessment tools supporting work in shelters and other community organizations.
• Worked with Statistics Canada to collect and analyse new data available through three national surveys on GBV (Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS), Survey on Individual Safety in the Post-Secondary Student Population, and a survey on harassment in the workplace). In 2020-21, WAGE invested $2.1M in 18 multi-year research projects on GBV. The projects focus on a variety of topics like intimate partner violence, human trafficking and GBV among Indigenous women and girls.
• Promoted action through commemorative events such as the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence;
• Launched the GBV Strategy Mid-Term Horizontal Evaluation with other government departments; and
• Fine-tuned monitoring and reporting approaches of the Strategy, enhancing collaboration and communications among key stakeholders to enhance program management and results delivery overall.

In response to the increased need for support by women experiencing GBV, WAGE acted quickly by distributing nearly $100 million in COVID-19 emergency funding, through the Canadian Women’s Foundation, Women’s Shelters Canada, and the Government of Quebec, as part of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. This funding helped support the work of over 1,200 frontline organizations, who collectively reached more than 1.1 million women and children experiencing violence. Because of this funding, over 450 organizations were able to hire additional staff, and close to 550 organizations were able to extend staff shifts to respond to the increased demand for services. Over 350 organizations were able to purchase additional protective equipment and cleaning supplies to ensure the safety of their staff and clients. Additionally, over 600 organizations were able to expand programs and services to respond to the increased need and nearly 100 organizations were also able to support children impacted by GBV through childcare and support services

In 2020-21, the Department of National Defence (DND) continued to reinforce education and awareness, while ensuring that Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members and their families were supported by services received through Family Violence Advisory Team (FVAT) programming, Military Family Resource Centres and the program supporting sexual assault centres near CAF bases. The FVATs and Defence Community helping professionals strengthened their support to military members and their families affected by violence by receiving education and knowledge about GBV, family violence, and how to best support victims and survivors. Notably, these teams aimed to improve the lives of 2SLGBTQQIA military members and family members through targeted training on diversity, inclusion, and the particular barriers that 2SLGBTQQIA individuals face when they experience violence and inequality or seek help. These teams also engaged in prevention efforts through the Healthy Relationships Campaign, which provides a range of resources for military members and their families on how to create and maintain healthy relationships, and by promoting a new online course on how to support friends who may be experiencing an abusive relationship. Also, in 2020-21, DND:

• Ensured that each Base/Wing across Canada had an active FVAT with standardized policies and procedures in place to support their work;
• Promoted a coordinated approach across DND and the CAF to ensure that all necessary stakeholders are engaged with Canada’s Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence; and
• Launched 10 projects with Sexual Assault service providers near the primary CAF bases in Canada.

In 2020-21, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) continued to support 35 multi-year projects to build the evidence base for effective approaches to prevent teen/youth dating violence and child maltreatment and equip professionals to prevent and respond safely to gender-based violence. For example, Ode'imaa zhigo ode'imaa (Heart to Heart), developed by Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad Inc. (Ndinawe), is a community-driven and culturally adapted dating violence prevention program for Indigenous teens designed to equip youth with the knowledge and skills for healthy and safe relationships. Triple P (Positive Parenting Program), led by McMaster University, is designed to reduce behavioural and emotional problems in children and improve parenting practices by increasing parents’ knowledge, skills, and confidence and teaching alternatives to harsh parenting. The Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Building the Field of Teen Healthy Relationships project convened working groups and created regional hubs to enhance communication and collaboration amongst health professionals, researchers, policy makers, youth serving agencies, funders, Indigenous communities, and youth working to prevent and address teen and youth dating violence. PHAC also continued to support a Community of Practice to connect and build capacity among researchers and service providers working to prevent teen/youth dating violence.

Public health restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic required project activities to be paused, adapted, or pivoted online. Despite this, in 2020-21 PHAC-funded projects directly reached 4,684 participants and 7,991 professionals in 85 sites across Canada. Knowledge mobilization products and events engaged an additional 335,000 stakeholders. Interim results indicate projects improved participants’ skills and knowledge, and influenced behaviour change to prevent and address GBV. For example, interim results from teen/youth dating violence and child maltreatment interventions demonstrate participants developed improved ability to identify healthy/unhealthy relationships, and stronger communication skills. Interim results from capacity building projects demonstrate service providers feel more competent to respond to clients’ experiences of GBV and provide trauma-informed services and support.

In 2020-21, Public Safety (PS) continued to support the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s Project Arachnid, a web-crawler that detects child-sexual abuse material and sends take-down notices to service providers. During this time period, Project Arachnid detected an average of 233,000 unique suspect images per month which resulted in 489 companies receiving take-down notices.

PS also continued to fund the PLEA Community Services Society of British Columbia’s “Safer Space” program to develop and implement targeted awareness activities related to online child sexual exploitation. In 2020-21, activities included:

• Developing and delivering over 153 youth workshops in order to prevent and raise awareness of online child sexual exploitation to 7,247 youth participants. More specifically, the workshops gave children and youth information and practical tools to help keep online.
• Prevention and education workshops were also delivered to adults and young professionals who care for or work with youth. In total, 34 workshops were delivered to 386 adults and professionals.

In addition, PS undertook research, awareness and intervention activities aimed at preventing and addressing bullying and cyberbullying behaviours. In 2020-21, these activities included:

• The continued funding for four community-based cyberbullying projects through the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS). Two of these initiatives are undergoing full process and outcome evaluations;
• The launch of a Cyberbullying marketing campaign in March 2021, in support of the NCPS, to increase awareness of where youth, caregivers and parents can get the help they need and to help empower young people to take action to protect themselves and others from cyberbullying; and,
• The publishing of two cyberbullying research reports, one focused on presenting a systematic review of existing Canadian cyberbullying research, and the second focusing on existing interventions in Canada and abroad to address cyberbullying.

In 2020-21, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Vulnerable Persons Unit (VPU) launched the Cultural Awareness and Humility (CAH) course, which was formally deemed mandatory for all RCMP employees in November 2020. As of July 5, 2021, 24,457 employees (87.7%) have completed the course. This training course provides employees with knowledge and skills that will improve capacity across the RCMP to effectively respond to GBV in a gender and culturally sensitive manner, including response to GBV against Indigenous women and girls. The course has also been made available to other law enforcement and security agencies in Canada via the Canadian Police Knowledge Network online portal.

In addition to the CAH course, the VPU was able to provide support for several events and initiatives that align with the GBV strategy. These events and initiatives were held at national headquarters, the RCMP training academy (Depot), and across Divisions, and served to advance cultural awareness on GBV issues such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and diversity.

The RCMP’s Sexual Assault Review Team (SART) continued to review sexual assault files, provide guidance on investigational approaches for cases of sexual assault, and oversee the establishment of Sexual Assault Investigation Review Committees (SAIRCs). In 2020, 7 SAIRC meetings took place. These efforts have assisted the RCMP in establishing a victim-centred and trauma-informed approach as the RCMP’s response to sexual violence. There have been delays in establishing and continuing the work of the SAIRCs in RCMP jurisdictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health protocols. The inability to meet in person resulted in the cancellation and re-scheduling of some reviews, as SAIRC reviews cannot be conducted virtually and must be completed with RCMP supervision.

The RCMP has made the Using a Trauma-Informed Approach online course available to all RCMP employees; it has been completed by 7367 RCMP officers and employees serving the public^{Footnote 1} as of June 1st, 2021. In addition, the SART continued to develop and implement training and educational material on various other relevant topics, including gaps in sexual assault investigations and guidance on best practices, educational material on consent and rape myths, and guidance for contacting victims of sexual assault. The SART also collaborated with the RCMP’s Depot Training Academy to update the sexual assault investigations scenario, and the updated scenario was introduced into Depot training in February 2020. These training courses and educational materials help reinforce the rights of and support services for victims, and further educate investigators on sexual offence investigations.

The RCMP continued efforts to combat online sexual exploitation of children and target transnational child sex offenders. The GBV funding, coupled with existing funding under the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet, has led to several results:

• The RCMP met an operational goal, as well as a commitment to the WeProtect Global Alliance (formerly known as the Global Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Online), whereby the number of identified victims in the Interpol Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database must be increased by 10% yearly. In 2020-21, Canada increased the number of identified victims by approximately 21%^{Footnote 2}. The RCMP National Child Exploitation Crime Centre (NCECC) is Canada's leading contributor to the ICSE database and Canada is the third largest contributor to the ICSE database, worldwide.
• During fiscal year 2020-21, the NCECC received approximately 52,306 complaints/reports/requests for assistance: 12% originating from Canada, and 88% from the United States (primarily through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children [NCMEC], as well as from other countries.
• Over 2020-21, the RCMP continued leading an international research study on the health and wellbeing of online child sexual exploitation employees. The RCMP recently completed the second phase of this multi-phased, long-term project, which will result in the development of a health and wellness program that will include employee resiliency training, a resiliency training manual, mitigation tools and coping mechanisms.
• Throughout 2020-21, the RCMP chaired the Virtual Global Taskforce, which is an international alliance of law enforcement agencies, industry partners, and non-governmental partners dedicated to protecting children from online sexual exploitation and transnational child sex offences.
• Since 2018, the RCMP’s National Sex Offender Registry and High Risk Sex Offender Program identified more than 150 Canadian transnational child sex offenders, who were previously unknown to the broader law enforcement community.

In 2020-21, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) continued to fund a coordinated strategy across the settlement sector to address GBV and increase the capacity of front line settlement workers as well as enhance place-based services for newcomers and refugees. With the collaboration of settlement and anti-violence sector experts, this sector-wide strategy included an initial needs assessment to identify existing initiatives and resources, and the development of online training that is culturally competent and trauma-informed. This training aimed to improve the capacity of settlement workers to effectively respond to GBV, as well as adopt a preventative response that strengthens the capacity of newcomers and refugees, including men and boys, to engage on the issue. IRCC also advanced best practices that address emerging GBV issues for this sector, along with effective resources for stakeholders to support a strong cross-sectoral approach. Over the 2020-21 fiscal year, IRCC maintained the temporary resident permit process for newcomers and their children confronting family violence, as a critical support during the pandemic. IRCC also continued to issue temporary resident permits to help survivors of human trafficking in Canada without legal status. Additionally, beginning in 2019, IRCC is investing $1.6 million over three years in the Kids Help Phone to support the wellbeing of newcomer youth through culturally responsive, free mental health services.

Questions related to the GBV Strategy can be sent to: cfc.finalaviolence-endviolence.swc@cfc-swc.gc.ca