Province funding efforts to prevent gender-based violence

By Sam Leishman - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on February 12, 2025.

The Alberta government is investing $15.7-million to support its on-going efforts to prevent gender-based violence.
This money is part of a four-year $54-million bilateral agreement that Alberta signed with the federal government back in 2023 aimed at developing a provincial strategy that will address critical gaps in gender-based violence supports. Tanya Fir, Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women, explained that this round of federal funds will expand upon existing services and identify future opportunities to better support survivors.
“Gender-based violence, in all its forms, is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated,” Fir told a press conference on Feb. 11. “It’s something we would rather assume happens in other places, not here in our communities. The truth is that gender-based violence happens every day and everywhere, and it needs to stop.”
Several important initiatives will benefit from targeted funding this year, according to Fir. Those include women’s shelter programming, reporting and preventing sexual violence on post-secondary and First Nations college campuses, strengthening support for survivors navigating the justice system, improving education and resources regarding elder abuse, supporting research into gender-based violence and a number of Indigenous-led activities focused on missing and murdered women and girls.
“This funding will truly mean so much for so many families across the province,” added Searle Turton, Minister of Children and Family Services, which will receive $7.2-million from this new federal money to increase operating funds for women’s shelters specifically. “It means that we’re making a tangible difference for women and children to start the process of ending generational trauma.”
Fir says the UCP government is choosing to act now while it finalizes its 10-year Strategy to End Gender-Based Violence, which is expected to be released within the coming months. While she didn’t comment on the specifics of the strategy, Fir explained that it will detail service gaps and prevention efforts that will help vulnerable Albertans break the cycle of gender-based violence.
Fir did note that the strategy will include two pillars that are particularly important to her: women’s economic empowerment and engaging with men and boys on early violence prevention.

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