Thank you very much.
Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that I am speaking with you from the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples.
I am pleased to connect with you from the various territories and communities you are in today.
Madam Chair and committee members, it's a pleasure for me to participate in your study of intimate partner violence and domestic violence in Canada.
I am the assistant deputy minister of strategic policy at Women and Gender Quality Canada. I appreciate this committee's dedication to the continued research of an issue that is central to our work.
Everyone in Canada has the right to live free from violence. However, in Canada, 44% of women, or 6.2 million women, will experience some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
In fact, intimate partner violence is one of the most prevalent forms of gender-based violence. GBV is one of the most pervasive, deadly and deeply rooted human rights violations of our time. It is also preventable and a significant barrier to achieving gender equality.
The data on intimate partner violence paints a disturbing picture. In the last year alone, over 225,000 women experienced intimate partner violence. That means that 618 women in Canada every day lived in fear, experiencing violence by a partner. Younger women between the ages of 15 and 44 years experience the highest levels of intimate partner violence of any age group. In addition, indigenous women are two times more likely to experience spousal violence than are non-indigenous women. People with disabilities, LGBTQ2 individuals, women living in the territories and women living with low income are more likely to experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. And let's not forget that for every woman impacted, there is a family and often children impacted too.
Preventing and addressing gender-based violence is a national priority, and numerous actions are under way that provide a solid foundation to build upon, including responding to the reported increased level of GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since April 2020, the Government of Canada, through Women and Gender Equality Canada, has provided emergency funding to support over 1,200 organizations that provide a range of GBV supports and services across Canada. To date, more than 1.3 million people have had a safe place to turn because of this funding.
The pandemic has reinforced the need for and urgency of a national action plan to end gender-based violence. To this end, Women and Gender Equality Canada is working closely with provincial and territorial governments to develop this plan, building on what we have heard from stakeholders and indigenous partners. Important steps towards the national action plan to end gender-based violence have been achieved in recent years and months.
At their 38th annual meeting, held in January 2021, the federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for the status of women endorsed the joint declaration for a Canada free of gender-based violence, which confirmed the common vision, principles and goals for responding to GBV. This joint declaration provides the overarching framework for the plan currently under development.
In December 2021, at their 39th annual meeting, ministers agreed to continue their commitment and collaboration to advance towards this national action plan. To support this effort, the Government of Canada is investing $601.3 million over five years, starting this fiscal year, to advance towards the national action plan to end GBV.
Women and Gender Equality, or WAGE, is investing $450 million of this funding in the following areas: to support shelters, sexual assault centres, women's organizations and other organizations providing supports and services to those experiencing GBV; to enhance the GBV program, including funding to engage men and boys and support at-risk populations of survivors; to establish a dedicated secretariat to coordinate ongoing work toward the development and implementation of the GBV national action plan; to advance important research and knowledge mobilization; to support crisis hotlines; and to support the important work the government is doing on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. WAGE is also investing $55 million to bolster the capacity of indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations to specifically provide GBV prevention programming. The call for proposals to access this funding is currently open.
All of these initiatives are building on the federal GBV strategy launched in 2017. I would like to highlight for the committee a few of the Government of Canada's key achievements. Since 2018, the department has invested over $30 million in GBV research, including a new national survey that provided us with our first comprehensive understanding of intimate partner violence in Canada, with an innovative index developed by the University of Western Ontario. Also in 2018, the government launched the GBV Knowledge Centre's online platform, which brings together program and research evidence and resources to enable evidence-based action on GBV. The platform also includes key information on resources available for those affected by GBV. Since 2015, the government has invested over $1 billion to prevent and address GBV and committed an additional $601 million through budget 2021.
Of our own investments in that period, WAGE provided more than 1,600 organizations with $730 million to support more than 500 projects working to prevent GBV and to support survivors and their families. Because of these projects, nearly 2.6 million women gained access to programs and supports related to GBV, including access to counselling, court services and trauma-informed victim services. An additional one million people gained skills and knowledge to prevent GBV and to support those affected.
I'm getting the signal.
I'm confident this committee's study will make a valuable contribution to the efforts to end GBV. I look forward to reviewing your study and applying it to the GBV national action plan.