Bill No. 2, the Gender-based Violence Prevention Funding Act

THE SPEAKER « » : The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I am very pleased to rise and speak to Bill No. 2, the Gender-based Violence Prevention Funding Act. We've heard a great deal about the programs that are ongoing through government over a number of years, and yet I think it's really important to acknowledge at the outset that since October, six women, and one of their fathers, have died in confirmed cases of intimate partner homicide in this province - six women.

I would submit that if six Nova Scotians had died at sea, if six Nova Scotians had been lost in a fire, if six Nova Scotians had been lost in any other number of ways, we would have marked those deaths very differently. And so I'd like to take a moment and read their names, and with your indulgence, I would like us to take a moment of silence after that to acknowledge the passing of these women:

Brenda Tatlock-Burke, age 59, of Enfield

Nicole Murphy, age 49, of Yarmouth

An unidentified woman from Cole Harbour, age 71

Corelee Alisha Smith, 40

Her father, Bradford "Coy" Downey

Elaine Mosher, 60, of Mahone Bay

and Paiyton Pick, 22, of Centreville

I ask that the members rise and observe a moment of silence.

[A moment of silence was observed.]

THE SPEAKER « » : Please be seated.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: The fact that we've lost this many lives in our province is awful. We know that across our province and behind closed doors many more Nova Scotians are suffering from intimate partner and gender-based violence.

The epidemic of gender-based violence and the lives of these victims were marked earlier today in a march. All parties were invited. Unfortunately, the government was not there. I think it's important that we acknowledge in this House that we aren't doing enough. It's not that we're not doing anything, we're just not doing enough, because people are dying.

This bill is our effort to start doing enough. When we brought forward the bill declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic, which I know my colleague spoke to briefly in her remarks, we were told that we didn't need that legislation, that it was only symbolic. That symbol is so important. Without that legislation, and the work of the advocates who pushed to make sure that it became law, I don't think we would have been able to call those six deaths what they are: intimate partner homicides.

It's changed the way that media reports. It's changed the way we can have the conversation in this space, in our homes, in our communities. That's what we need: culture change. That's what Turning the Tide Together tells us. That's what the Desmond Fatality Inquiry tells us. That's what these reports tell us. We need culture change.

One of the suggestions - recommendations - of Turning the Tide Together was epidemic-level funding to meet the epidemic before us. While there are commitments in this budget, almost none of them are new, and they are not enough.

Double staffing is great. Increases in funding to transition houses is great, but those organizations also need money for outreach. We also need to be providing stable, consistent funding to organizations that help men with unprocessed trauma who become the perpetrators of gender-based violence. The organizations we have that are doing that are doing heroic work with very little funding and very little attention.

We need epidemic-level funding for gender-based violence prevention and intervention. That is the language of Turning the Tide Together, and that's at the core of the bill that we are debating today. We shouldn't have to debate it; we should have it.

Last year, the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia provided services for 4,500 women and children. This is up by about 500 from the previous year. I'll table that. What we hear when we talk to these frontline providers is that there is a lot that is not actually captured in these statistics, that there are a number of people whom they hear about or whom they speak to, who then can't engage with their programming or, because they don't want to become involved with the justice system, don't engage with their programming. This is why things like outreach are so important.

In 2018, nearly one-third of Nova Scotian women and more than one-fifth of men reported experiencing physical and sexual assault committed by an intimate partner. Those statistics don't capture gender non-binary folks, but I'm sure they're high up in there. We know those statistics. This is the highest rate of all provinces in Canada.

I was talking to someone this morning who's new to the province and said to me, "Why is it that Nova Scotia has the highest numbers in the country?" Honestly, I couldn't answer that question. I can point to some things. I can point to the ways in which the social determinants of health impact this epidemic. I can point to the role that poverty plays. I can point to the role that insecure housing plays. I can point to the role that the inability to make ends meet for your family, unprocessed trauma - all of that - but we are not unique in any of that.

We are, unfortunately, unique in having been the province that suffered the worst mass casualty event in our nation. After that happened, I was proud to join with a number of advocates and people on all sides of this House to ensure we had a full and robust inquiry that included a gender lens - because we know the perpetrator had a history of violence in his home - to make sure it never happened again. Four years later - in the last few months, seven lives - and this is still happening.

The good news is we have a road map. We have the work of Turning the Tide Together. We have some of the folks who worked on that report with us in the gallery today. That's not easy work. That's work that creates a lot of secondary trauma. Thank you to the people who have put their voices and their lives into this work.

What we know now is that the funding to date has been piecemeal. Many of the programs that my colleagues in the government listed during their remarks are one-time grants to different organizations. Those grants are so challenging to administer. You have to hire people, make relationships, and build trust, and then you don't know if the money is going to be there next time. This is why the stable core funding piece is so important, and that's why it's at the centre of our bill.

Part of our legislation would see the Minister of Health and Wellness establish a fund to support organizations with a mandate to address gender-based violence. We know we need the minister in charge of the Status of Women to be at the centre of this work. The Department of Justice is important, but I will tell you, when we talk to the frontline organizations, they say the Department of Justice is the most difficult department - not the staff, but the most difficult site of engagement - for victims, organizations, and everyone. Nobody wants to get there. Let's put the funding upstream. Let's keep people out of that space.

Our fund would be based on a formula that ensures that organizations will have continuous core funding. That means that the organizations doing this work won't have to worry about where the money's coming from for next year or if they can continue doing that work. Imagine: These folks are doing work with deeply traumatized folks. Trust is at the core of that work, yet so often, the conversation has to happen: "I might not see you next month. I might not have the capacity for that next year." We can do better than that.

Our legislation would also mandate the minister to establish a community-based advisory body on gender-based violence to provide consultation and oversight on funding amounts. First voices. We hear that there is consultation. We hear that there is conversation, but it's not yet happening in a robust and co-ordinated way. We have so many organizations and survivors who are coming to us to say, "We want a meeting with government. We want government to come and speak at our rally. We want government to have us at the table."

We do our best. We write letters. We use our space here in the House to recommend it, but it's not happening yet. We don't need more studies, Speaker. We don't need more back and forth. We know the problem and we know what needs to be done. The recommendations from the Mass Casualty Commission . . .

THE SPEAKER « » : Order. The time allotted for debate on this bill has expired. Pursuant to Rule 20(2), the debate is deemed to be adjourned.