PROTECT SAFETY: EMAIL YOUR MP TODAY
Right now, the Department of Justice Canada funds legal services for survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault across Canada. This funding is about to end.
We are one of more than 23 organizations across Canada who receive some of our funding through the Department of Justice Canada’s Independent Legal Advice (ILA) and Independent Legal Representation (ILR) grants. These grants end on March 31, 2026. We are calling on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to renew them. Between April 2023 and March 2024 alone, our programs provided legal services to over 9,000 women and gender-diverse survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence.
The sunsetting of this funding will have far reaching effects across the country. Half of all women in Canada will experience gender-based violence at some point in their lifetime.
Survivors currently accessing these services will face serious harm and re-traumatization if the services no longer exist or are scaled down. Some of our services may be cut back if we don’t have this funding renewed.
Legal supports like these are not supplementary—they are the foundation of a survivor-focused justice system. We cannot afford to lose the ground we have gained. We urge government to ensure this critical work is sustained for the long term.
Send an email to your MP today and urge them to renew our funding.