Programs for women facing violence could see steep funding drop if Ottawa ends pandemic grant

Organizations that support women in crisis throughout Nova Scotia expectto be forced to make some tough decisions if federal funds they received during the COVID-19 pandemic are not renewed.

Since April 2020, groups across the country helping women fleeing violence which surged during the pandemic shared about $300million in topped-up federal funding. That program fromWomen and Gender Equality Canadais set to expire in September.

Some of those who benefited from it in Nova Scotia said they knew the funds were not going to be permanent, but are still concerned about the consequences.

"The impact is going to be pretty devastating," said Dawn Ferris, the executive director of the Cumberland County Transition House Association.

The group, which operates a shelter for women and childrenin addition to providing counselling and a range of other services, received $443,748 through the program.The money helpedtohireextra relief workers, allowing the shelter toincrease itshours.

• Women's shelters across Canada are losing nearly $150 million in federal funding

It has been essential, she said, especially considering the Autumn House shelter in Amherst often helps women from New Brunswick as well as Nova Scotia.

Layoffs possible

"We'll have to start cutting back," Ferris said. "We're probably going to have to cut back on the outreach services and the wrap-around support services and there's a lot of clients."

The staff who were hired to do relief work may now be let go, she said. Doing more fundraising is also going to be necessary.

• Anti-violence advocates say mass shooting report validates their calls for urgent change

Less than a month ago, the final report of the Mass Casualty Commission called for increased,stable funding for front-line women's programs, adding there is a lack of service, particularly in rural areas.The inquiry, which looked at the root causes of violence against women whileexamining the shooting deaths of 22 people by a lone gunman in 2020, said giving out grants on a project-by-project basis"is inefficient and causes lapses in effective preventive and support services."

Thirty-nineprograms in Nova Scotia received funds through the federal initiative, including the Tri-County Women's Centre, which supports women through counselling and advocacy in Yarmouth, Digby and Shelburne counties.

'Unable to meet the needs of the community'

The centre said the $210,430 it was provided helped pay for mental health services for women with increasingly challenging problemsduring the pandemic.

"It was critical," said Trish McCourt, the executive director. "That made it possible for us to hire a second support worker and also someone with a social work degree to provide some of those more complex mental health services that our support workers would be unable to."

The centre supports about 250 women every month across the three counties. McCourt saidthatnumber has doubled since she started there about three and a half years ago.

The growing caseload means there can be a two- to four-week wait for afirst appointment, although exceptions can be made inurgent cases.

"We've been under-resourced for so long, we are already unable to meet the needs of the community on a day-to-day basis," she said.

McCourtsaid she now expects to be spending a lot of time applying for other funding.

Both she and Ferris are hoping the Mass Casualty Commission report leads to more secure levels of funding in the long term.

A spokesperson for Women and Gender Equality Canada was unable to respond to CBC's requests for commentbeforedeadline.

A spokesperson for Marci Ien, the federal minister for the status of women, said in a statement that the federal government is in "lockstep with the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission's recommendation that funding toward domestic violence supports 'requires pandemic level funding,'" but did not commit to renewing the money.

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