According to a June 27 news release, the province’s government is making an investment of more than $640,000 “to support … initiatives administered by community-based organizations and the agencies that support them.”
This injection of funding is part of Saskatchewan’s signing on to the federal government’s National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence — a 10-year collaborative endeavour that sees Ottawa give money to participating provinces and territories to help them implement the plan in their respective jurisdictions.
In July 2023, Saskatchewan became one of the first to sign on to the plan — and in exchange received $20.3 million over four years to implement the plan in that province.
Some of the money from this latest infusion will include $100,000 for the Maddison Sessions Conference — a session that was held in Saskatoon this past April to promote “an exchange of ideas among those working in the area of gender-based violence, law enforcement, lawyers and advocates.”
A government spokesperson said the funding for the conference has been provided “in separate amounts across 2024-25 and 2025-26.”
Other initiatives include the Building Active Bystanders Training Program, which teaches people how to safely intervene in — and report on — incidents of interpersonal violence.
Another is the Safe and Together Model Evaluation, a program working to improve collaboration between service providers in “addressing the actions and behaviours of perpetrators of violence.”
Yet another is the Indigenous Led Approaches to Addressing Gender-based Violence, which involves three agencies supporting Indigenous approaches to tackling gender-based violence.
A government spokesperson said the funding for the initiatives was approved at the end of the 2024-2025 fiscal year and is being provided “to the various agencies across the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years.”
“In some cases, money was provided in the previous fiscal year, or through retroactive payments,” they said in an email to Law360 Canada.
Saskatchewan Minister of Justice and Attorney General Tim McLeod said the province is “proud to empower and support community-based organizations across the province as they create programs, provide services and research new practices to build safe communities.”
“This increased investment will strengthen outreach and provide families with the tools they need to build a successful path forward,” said McLeod in a statement.
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