Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for Vancouver East for her important and continuous advocacy for survivors of gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence has devastating impacts on women, children and their families. I commend the Downtown Eastside community advocates in Vancouver as they work tirelessly to provide services to women in need. We hear them, we see them and we are working with them.
Even before COVID-19 came into our lives, gender-based violence was all too prevalent in Canada. Since 2015, our government has taken immediate steps to end it in all forms. More recently, we have seen how the pandemic has increased barriers for women and we have been active on the file, collaborating with all governments and advocates as well as women's and equality-seeking organizations across Canada, including those in British Columbia and Vancouver.
In recent years, we have worked closely with the Feminists Deliver working group and we have sought advice from equality-seeking organizations across British Columbia to support those experiencing social and economic marginalization, including people experiencing marginalization due to their gender, their gender identity and their gender expression. We have discussed our mobilization efforts on gender equality and highlighted the importance of inclusion and the need to elevate unheard and diverse voices.
Women's organizations in Vancouver and all across Canada continue to be the backbone of the movement. They have worked tirelessly to protect and advance the rights of women, girls and people of all gender identities and expressions. These organizations provide shelter, healing and guidance. They serve survivors and their families from all ethnocultural communities, all religions, all work backgrounds and with a multiplicity of life experiences. We have made it our utmost priority to fund and support their work to ensure they have the resources they need to best serve women, girls, LGBTQ2 and gender-diverse peoples.
Since 2015, Women and Gender Equality Canada has invested more than $118 million in over 300 organizations all across Canada for 345 projects addressing violence.
In 2017, we launched the first-ever national strategy to end gender-based violence, and this was supported by an investment of $200 million, which was a landmark in our commitment to the safety and security of women.
In Vancouver, we have invested more than $9 million in 20 organizations for 23 projects addressing a variety of pressing issues affecting women and girls, such as gender-based violence, human trafficking, homelessness, LGBTQ2 equality and indigenous women's safety. We also provided over $1.4 million in emergency COVID-19 funding to 39 organizations in Vancouver alone.
Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, tabled the budget for 2020-21, our plan to continue the fight against COVID-19 and to ensure a resilient economy and a feminist recovery. Our government, alongside all our partners in the provinces and territories and indigenous leaders, are moving forward with a national action plan to end gender-based violence. Budget 2020-21 builds on this work, and is investing over $600 million over five years.
Women have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic, but we have always been at the forefront of our recovery. We know of the devastating increase of gender-based violence and intimate partner violence. Each life lost is a tragedy. The investments from budget 2020-21 will make a difference. From my riding in the Long Range Mountains to the hon. member's community in Vancouver East—