The province is providing an additional $10 million to the Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC) for sexual assault response service programs. Half of the grant was allocated to an Indigenous services stream and the other to a general stream, according to the province.
The government provided EVA BC with $10 million in March last year to establish a multi-year emergency sexual assault services grant program.
This meant 23 organizations throughout the province received funding to support the delivery of trauma-informed and culturally appropriate response services for survivors of sexual assault, the province said.
“There is growing public awareness as a result of the #Metoo movement, the report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and other such calls to action that have brought us to this momentous place, where the province is putting money and resources into the hands of service providers that are ready to support survivors,” said Ninu Kang, co-executive director at EVA BC.
The additional $10 million will double the support and allow EVA BC to fund additional programs from among a pool of already adjudicated, strong applications that were not funded under the grant program when it first launched, the province said.
“Our province should be a safe place for all of us and yet over half the women in B.C. have experienced physical or sexual violence since the age of 16,” said Grace Lore, parliamentary secretary for gender equity. “That’s more than one million women in our province. Sexual assault response services that are trauma informed, survivor centred and culturally appropriate can make a huge difference for people when they need it most.”
