OTTAWA — The Liberal government is unveiling its strategy on gender-based violence today, with the bulk of the money set to create a centre of excellence within Status of Women Canada to both study and try to solve the problem.
Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef says the money will help collect and share cross-country data on gender-based violence that other levels of government and those on the front lines are unable to gather on their own.
“It is incredibly important that our actions, how we spend money, the way that we deliver programming, is based on knowledge and evidence and that we share that knowledge across the country,” she said in an interview Monday.
She says that will include bringing research up to date with the times, such as looking at issues like online violence.
The centre will receive $77.5 million of the $101 million over five years the Liberal government committed to the gender-based violence strategy in the March budget, plus $16 million a year going forward, for research, data collection and programming.
The rest of the money will be spread across the government, including $9.5 million for the Public Health Agency of Canada to work on prevention, including looking at the maltreatment of children and teen dating violence.
The remaining $14 million will be spent on training RCMP officers in “cultural competency,” boosting efforts at Public Safety to tackle the online exploitation of children, more support for members of the Canadian military experiencing violence and enhancing the settlement program for immigrants and refugees.