ANALYSIS: You Get What You Pay For, Canada (Part of the 16 Day Campaign)

Source: 
Colleen Burke, WILPF Canada
Duration: 
Sunday, October 31, 2010 - 20:00
Countries: 
Americas
North America
PeaceWomen Consolidated Themes: 
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
Initiative Type: 
Campaigns,Online Dialogues & Blogs

CANADA

We have a conservative, cutting government at the moment and we can list a huge number of programs which they've cut or under-funded.

Cuts from September 2006



Status of Women Canada - this is an arm of the government which is supposed to promote women's equality across the country. Our Conservative government actually changed its mandate eliminated the word "equality!" In addition, it cut $5 million (40% of budget). This led to loss of staff, closed regional offices and much less money to support women's organizations.

Court Challenges Program - this was a program which provided legal assistance for equity-seeking groups who do not have the resources to take forward a legal challenge. The challenges were under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms and were generally related to human rights / discrimination issues. The program was eliminated - $5.6 million cut.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada = $55.4 million cut to literacy programs

Cuts from May 2010

This year there were more cuts to women's organizations:

Match International has relied on government funding for 34 years to support programs that help women gain leadership skills and start their own businesses in countries such as Ghana, Mali and Tanzania. The group also works to prevent violence against women and female genital mutilation. The non-profit organization has been getting about $400,000 a year — about 75 per cent of its budget — from the federal Canadian International Development Agency. The rest comes largely from charitable donations. All funding eliminated.

Planned Parenthood International, another group that supports women's rights, including abortion as a reproductive choice. It has been without government funding since December. Prior to that, it received $6 million a year for three years.

As I said, there are many more cuts, but most of the information I found was expressed in percentages (40% cut, 75% cut, etc) without actual dollar amounts.