Speak up against 80% budget cut for Women and Gender Equality
Last week, the federal department of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) quietly released a departmental plan that proposed an 80% budget cut over the next three years.
WAGE is the federal department responsible for advancing gender equality and women’s rights. It funds front-line organizations that do vital work to end gender-based violence, promote women’s economic security, and support 2SLGBTQ+ communities.
That includes Women Transforming Cities, which is a current recipient of WAGE’s Women's Opportunity Fund. These budget cuts threaten the future of WTC, alongside many other small, grassroots organizations staffed by women and gender-marginalized people that do not have large donor bases.
If the budget cuts go ahead, the women’s movement will be decimated: women’s organizations will shut their doors, violence prevention programs will grind to a halt, and decades of work towards advancing gender rights will be cut short.
Other departments are being asked to present 15% budget cuts—the only department facing cuts of this magnitude is WAGE. This is a betrayal of feminist voters and a dangerous signal as gender-based violence, misogyny, and attacks on the 2SLGBTQ+ community and reproductive rights intensify.
This move directly contradicts the Liberal Party’s election platform (which committed not only to using a GBA+ analysis, but also explicitly promised to increase WAGE funding). If they are implemented, the proposed cuts will reduce funding to the Women’s Program to 35.6% lower than it was in the last year of the Harper government.
As stated by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, “it is the same story playing out in Washington—the only significant difference is that Canadian policymakers are doing it without the hateful rhetoric.”
What can you do?
There is still time to stop these budget cuts.
It’s critical that MPs hear from individual constituents. Please take five minutes to email your Federal Member of Parliament.
You might want to include:
Your shock to hear about the proposed budget cuts
Why supporting women and gender equality is essential
How you have personally benefited or participated in WAGE-funded programs (if you’ve engaged with WTC’s advocacy, membership, used our resources or attended an event, it was supported by WAGE!)
That you hope to see their leadership in advocating for the reversal of these devastating cuts
Thank you for your support and advocacy!
