WomanACT Statement on the Passage of Canada’s Budget 2025

WomanACT welcomes the passage of Budget 2025 and the federal government’s continued commitment to advancing gender equality, safety, and opportunity for women, girls, and gender-diverse people across Canada. We appreciate the recognition that preventing and addressing gender-based violence (GBV) requires sustained investment, cross-sector collaboration, and an unwavering focus on equity and inclusion.

We are encouraged by the government’s proposed $660.5 million over five years in new and ongoing funding for Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE). Since its establishment, WAGE has played a vital role in eliminating discrimination, strengthening economic participation, and advancing the rights of women and 2SLGBTQI+ communities.  Furthermore, we are grateful that WAGE’s budget reduction was kept to 2%, helping shield the department from wider austerity measures and enabling it to sustain progress on gender equity nationwide.

The budget’s reaffirmation of long-term funding, including  $382.5 million to advance women’s equality and economic security, $54.6 million to support and strengthen the 2SLGBTQI+ community sector, including Pride Security, and $223.4 million to bolster federal action on gender-based violence represents meaningful steps toward ensuring women’s organizations and 2SLGBTQI+ groups can continue delivering essential supports, addressing systemic barriers, and responding to violence in all its forms.

These investments will help sustain prevention programs, strengthen survivor supports, and advance our vision of a future where all women live free from violence. We also welcome the reaffirmed commitment to ongoing work with provinces and territories through bilateral agreements that fund community-based prevention and direct services for survivors. As implementation progresses, we look forward to clarity on continued funding for the National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence beyond March 2027.

Preventing Economic Abuse

WomanACT is especially heartened to see significant progress on preventing economic abuse, a common yet often hidden form of gender-based violence. Economic abuse affects many women and gender-diverse individuals in Canada, with rates as high as 1 in 3 women experiencing it from intimate partners. Budget 2025 proposes a voluntary Code of Conduct for the Prevention of Economic Abuse for federally regulated banks, overseen by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. This code will establish clear expectations for how financial institutions can better identify, prevent, and respond to economic abuse, supporting safer financial pathways for survivors and promoting financial independence.

Financial systems are not neutral, they are embedded in and shaped by broader social and gendered contexts. Integrating trauma-informed principles into banking technology is essential to address tech-facilitated financial abuse. WomanACT looks forward to collaborating with all levels of government and financial institutions to grounding this code in survivor-centered principles, accessibility, financial empowerment, collaboration, and continuous improvement. By acknowledging the powerful role that Canada’s financial sector plays in recognizing signs of coercion, manipulation, restricted access to money, sabotage of employment, or forced debt, the government takes an important step toward comprehensive violence prevention.

Housing as Safety Infrastructure

Budget 2025 also takes meaningful steps to improve safety and well-being by addressing one of the most urgent and persistent needs for survivors of gender-based violence: safe, affordable, and stable housing.

WomanACT’s research and policy work has consistently demonstrated the critical link between housing stability and survivor safety. This recognition naturally aligns with Canada’s National Housing Strategy Act (2019) that recognized housing as a human right, obligating governments to ensure access to safe, affordable housing for all, particularly for vulnerable populations such as women, gender-diverse people, and survivors of violence. Access to secure housing is often a determining factor in whether a survivor can safely leave an abusive situation.

In addition to affordability challenges, hidden homelessness disproportionately affects women. Hidden homelessness refers to temporary or unstable housing arrangements — staying with family, friends, or in unsafe environments — that are not captured in official statistics. For women fleeing violence, this often involves moving between precarious arrangements or returning to abusive partners.

The expansion of affordable and non-market housing through Build Canada Homes is especially critical. Increasing supply, affordability, and access will particularly support single-parent households, 81% of which are led by women, who are disproportionately at risk of housing instability after leaving violence.

By embedding gender and diversity considerations across decision-making, Budget 2025 acknowledges that economic security, housing access, and community safety are deeply interconnected. These measures reflect a growing recognition that preventing gender-based violence is not only about crisis response, it is about building the structural conditions that allow women and gender-diverse people to live independently, rebuild their lives, and thrive.

Looking Ahead

As a Toronto based organization working within Canada’s national GBV prevention ecosystem, WomanACT recognizes the progress reflected in Budget 2025 and looks forward to continuing our collaborative work with all levels of government, community partners, financial institutions, and survivors. Together, we can build a future where every person, regardless of gender, background, or circumstance, can live safely, independently, and with dignity.

Media Contact

Aakanksha Mathur (she/her)  
Manager of Public Policy, Advocacy and Communications  
WomanACT  
416-944-9242 Ext. 231  
amathur@womanact.ca  
womanact.ca