NDP statement on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh issued the following statement:

“On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against women, we are reminded that gender-based violence is still rampant in our communities and we recommit to stopping it.

In Canada, every six days, a woman is killed by her intimate partner and thousands of women and their children have to sleep in shelters because their home isn’t safe. It shouldn’t have to be this way.

The situation only got worse during the pandemic – 160 women and girls were killed in 2020 alone and 92 others in the first half of 2021. A disproportionate number of those killed were Indigenous women and girls.

According to the Canadian Women’s foundation, thousands of women, girls, and trans and non-binary people faced a heightened risk of violence at home with COVID-19 isolation measures, whether it takes the form of emotional, physical or sexual abuse. The rise of domestic violence in the last months has been called a ‘pandemic within a pandemic’.

Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has failed to deliver the help women, particularly Indigenous women, racialized women, trans women, low-income women, disabled women, and non-binary people need. Due to the lack of funding from the Liberal government, services for violence prevention and intervention were already struggling to meet people’s needs even before the pandemic hit.

We must do better to fight against gender-based violence and ensure that those at risk get the supports they need when they need it. We must be clear that we do not tolerate this cycle of violence in our communities. And we must confront the systems that are failing women head on.

New Democrats will continue to fight to deliver a National Action Plan to end gender-based violence, backed by stable funding to ensure that low-barrier shelter services and other programs are available in all regions of the country, especially areas that have traditionally been under-served. And we will continue to work in partnership with Indigenous women, the families of the missing and murdered, and communities to implement all of the Inquiry’s Calls for Justice. This includes establishing a comprehensive, plan to address violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA People.”