Carney has not prioritized gender-based violence; Trump has felt the backlash this can cause

Between 2019 and 2023, the lives of 719 women in Canada ended at the hands of their intimate partner.
Across the country, over a five-year span ending in 2023, family violence increased 17 percent, intimate partner violence by 13 percent. The victims of both these crimes were disproportionately women, accounting for 68 percent of family violence victims and 78 percent of IPV victims. 

Since 2019, there has been a 72 percent increase in hate crimes “due to increased hate in digital spaces against women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and targeted ethnic and religious groups,” data from the Canadian Women’s Foundation show.

The Government of Canada has a plan to put an end to this. By gathering together all levels of government and service providers and giving them money to implement the programs to help survivors and launch prevention efforts across the country to educate men, the hope is this will work to prevent future harm. 

“Ending GBV is everyone’s responsibility,” the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence explains.

Now, the sweeping life-saving plan appears in jeopardy.

The federal Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney appear to be rethinking previous commitments to protect women across the country. 

While many different crimes against women continue to increase, the budget proposal for Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE)—the department responsible for implementing the national action plan—indicates deep cuts, 81 percent in the coming years, to meet Carney’s demand for austerity in the federal civil service. 

When the proposed budget documents for the department were made public in July, the response from frontline service organizations was immediate. 

Many fear a return to the governing culture of former prime minister Stephen Harper who notoriously gutted departments responsible for women’s safety and gender equality. 

“For the first time since the Harper era, we are facing an unprecedented and catastrophic rollback of support for these hard-won and fundamental freedoms,” a letter sent to Carney from the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) declared. 

“This massive budget reduction would effectively gut the entire department responsible for women’s rights and gender equality in this country. It will be impossible for WAGE to fulfill its mandate under these circumstances. And while these are devastating cuts to WAGE, the funds freed up to invest elsewhere are a mere drop in the bucket of the overall federal budget.”

The 2025-2026 Departmental Plan shows drastic cuts to future funding levels for WAGE Canada, dropping from a proposed $407.1 million in 2025-26 to just $76.2 million in 2027-28. The full-time staff complement is projected to drop from 444 to 254.

Early budget projections for the department of Women and Gender Equality show drastic cuts to future funding levels.

(Government of Canada) 

The Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Rechie Valdez, did not answer questions from The Pointer about the proposed reductions. A statement from her office claims no funding cuts have been made yet, and the projected budget plan is a “routine” release “as part of our commitment to transparency and accountability.”

“The figures in the Departmental Plan do not represent any current or planned cuts to WAGE; rather, they reflect the currently planned expiry of certain time-limited program funding. Any funding decisions will be shared in due course,” a ministry spokesperson wrote in an email to The Pointer. “Minister Valdez is committed to working with community partners, advocates, and stakeholders to keep advancing women’s equality in Canada.”

Advocates are not convinced.

“They’re setting us up for failure really,” Marissa Kokkoros, the founder and executive director of Aura Freedom International, told The Pointer. “This is gonna cut really, really deep.”

Kokkoros did not mince words about the dire impact these proposed cuts would have if they are not reversed. 

“People will die,” she said, pointing to any loss of life or death services like risk assessments that can identify warning signs and pull women from dangerous situations to keep them safe.  

“There will be fewer people doing these types of risk assessments and so of course that will lead to less prevention and of course that will lead to more injury, more extreme violence, or more femicide. We need more prevention, not less. It’s already insufficient.”

The proposed budget cuts are the latest signal from the federal government that women’s issues are not a priority. 

First, Carney removed the WAGE minister from his first cabinet, formed in the weeks between his appointment as prime minister following the resignation of Justin Trudeau and when the federal election was called. 

“It was a signal, and I knew it in my gut that it was a sign of things to come,” Kokkoros said. “It sends a message that women and girls and gender-diverse people, and really violence against women, is not important.”

Then, when recreating the position in his cabinet after his election victory, Carney watered down Minister Valdez’s responsibility, expanding her role as Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism, which reduced the time and  attention dedicated to the protection of women.

Carney has also neglected the badly needed renewal of Canada’s national anti-human trafficking strategy. The previous plan expired at the end of last year, and for all of 2025, the country has been without a guiding document to lead its efforts to end human trafficking. 

“Economic recovery is a clear priority for this government, but it cannot be pursued at the expense of human rights,” Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section explained in a September 4 statement marking the first 100 days of Carney’s administration. “A just economy creates opportunity and protects those at the margins of society. This has not been the case in the past 100 days, but it is not too late for the government to backtrack and lead on human rights. Doing so will require urgent, decisive action.”

Marissa Kokkoros, founder and executive director of Aura Freedom International, is worried the proposed cuts, if approved, will have drastic consequences across Canada. “It sends a message that women and girls and gender-diverse people, and really violence against women, is not important.”

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer files) 

Carney has made it clear through various statements to the media that the fall budget will focus on austerity and his plan to “rein in spending”. 

Many advocates are confused about why the WAGE department, which accounts for just 0.08 percent of total federal expenditures, is being targeted. Numerous studies across the globe have shown that investments into upstream services to address issues like gender based violence can create a return on investment up to 10 times. 

A 2009 study found the economic impact of intimate partner violence was as much as $7.4 billion, including impacts on the healthcare sector, justice system and lost wages. The figure is certainly higher in 2025 as rates of IPV and GBV have increased dramatically. 

Removing investments from vital services to prevent IPV and GPV could cost the federal government more in the long-run, not less. 

“It’s not that they don’t know,” Kokkoros said. “It’s that they don’t care enough.”

The funding cuts, if approved, could have drastic political consequences for Carney. 

An Abacus poll conducted ahead of the 2025 federal election showed Carney pulled a significant share of female votes from the Conservatives, possibly bolstered by his platform’s commitment to increase spending for vital programs supporting women and gender-diverse peoples. 

What continues to unfold south of the border around the Jeffrey Epstein case should be a clear signal that issues surrounding the abuse of women—and the perceived indifference toward those impacted directly and indirectly by such issues—can quickly galvanize opposition against tone-deaf political leaders. 

The controversy surrounding the release of documentation in the Epstein case that could shed more light on how he was able to carry out his abuse of young women for decades has embroiled President Donald Trump’s administration for weeks, with no sign of relenting. 

In Canada, stakeholders seem similarly committed to ensuring leaders in Ottawa are paying attention.

“These proposed cuts must be walked back. The fall budget and beyond should include a continued commitment in line with the election promises that brought this government into power and at the scale that this historic moment requires,” the CRIAW statement underscores.

“We call for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Carney and his office to hear from us why meeting today’s momentous challenges requires including women and gender-diverse people, and expanding — not abandoning — gender equality.”

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