 Good morning and welcome to today's event a reminder to media on the line Please press star one to enter the queue You will be limited to one question and one follow-up with that I will hand it over to Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth Good morning. I'm Mike Farnworth, BC's Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General And I'd like to thank you for joining me here today And I'd like to acknowledge that we're on the traditional territory of the Laquungen speaking people the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations Stopping violence, supporting safety and creating security are central to our work as government That's why I'm pleased to announce that we are providing 22 million dollars over the next three years To support survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence We're investing in services people need by providing stable annual funding for sexual assault services For the first time in 20 years This new funding will allow service providers to focus on providing the care people need when they need it We understand that the safety and well-being of our citizens depends on us helping to stop gender-based and sexualized violence And it's essential that people who have experienced sexual violence can immediately access medical services, counseling and support Beginning in 2023, more than 10 million dollars will be provided each year for direct funding for community-based sexual assault services This new funding builds on the more than 42 million dollars already provided annually To support over 400 victims' service and violence against women's services across British Columbia Service providers have been able to apply for one-time only funding through programs such as the Emergency Sexual Assault Services grant program However, this annual funding will better support the work that they do to help survivors In the coming months, work will be done to develop a process for funding these services And now I'd like to turn it over to Grace Law, our Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity Who is a passionate advocate for both survivors and service providers Thank you very much, Minister My name is Grace Law and I'm BC's Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity I am incredibly grateful for the chance to be here today and to be part of this announcement Like so many others, I have worked on the front lines of anti-violence work And I have seen the devastation and long-term effects of sexualized violence When survivors are not able to access services that are trauma-informed and survivor-centered When and where they need it And too many people in our province still do not feel safe People continue to be to face violence and to feel at risk and targeted in their community Most of these people are women, Indigenous women, immigrants and newcomers Those who are racialized, trans people and others in the 2S LGBTQ plus community As well as those with disabilities are especially targeted for violence Sexual assaults and sexualized violence happen in every kind of community Urban, rural, it happens at work, at school and in the home And that is why we need to make sure that services are available I was so proud to be part of our previous announcements That provided a total of 20 million to assist community-based sexual assault response throughout the province These services are essential They ensure access to basic care like medical care, emotional and crisis support Safety planning and options for accessing justice These services are survivor-centered, they're trauma-informed and they're culturally aware And we know that service providers and community organizations that deliver this care Need stable funding And that is why we're here today I'd like to take the opportunity to share an example from a service provider in Port Alberni Over a four month period last year when a sexual assault response team was established 15 survivors, all of them women between the ages of 17 and 56 Were accompanied to the hospital and received care and personal support This is more trips to the hospital for forensic exams than in the entire previous year Not because there was more violence, but because more survivors sought help once supports to do so were available All but four of these women were indigenous, only three had a friend or family member present And this means that if someone from this team had not been there The survivor would have navigated care and undergone a forensic exam alone Alone and unsupported after being traumatized and subjected to violence Out of the 15 women, five needed a safe ride home but had no money for a cab or bus So the team members assisted Six needed to submit their clothing for forensic examination And the team was able to provide new underwear, socks, t-shirts and leggings Had these services not been available, the women would have left the hospital in hospital clothes only Services like this deserve predictable and dedicated funding They cannot, as they have been forced to do, rely on unpredictable and insufficient grants Tomorrow we will start our engagement discussions that we announced late last year Discussions with experts and community that will develop a gender-based violence action plan And ensure that survivors can access the care they need We have a lot of work ahead of us, good work that will make a difference in the lives of British Columbians And while this is a huge step forward, we know there are still gaps, there is work to do We've heard from survivors, from service providers, from other stakeholders And we know that we can't do this alone, but we can together I'm really pleased now to introduce Nenu King from the Ending Violence Association of BC Thank you Parliamentary Secretary Lower Sexual assault is considered the most under-reported violent crime in Canada While other crimes are on a decline, sexual assault is on the rise Early intervention along with emotional and practical support for survivors can get them on their path to healing Provincial emergency sexual assault funding was cut 20 years ago as the minister indicated And Eva BC along with many others advocated for over 18 years Working with the provincial government to return these essential fundings for sexual assault survivors As P.S. Lower said in 2020, we were pleased to hear the announcement of a provincial grant program To breathe new life into community emergency sexual assault programs Eva BC continues to administer these funds and saw organizations from across BC Enhanced existing programs and or develop new ones to ensure that sexual assault survivors get the support they need Some of those funds were earmarked and directed to indigenous organizations to create programs with culturally safe responses This announcement of 22 million to support those who have experienced sexual violence is a message to all survivors that they are not forgotten We are thrilled that our provincial government has committed to ensuring that services for sexual assault survivors are critical And need to be part of the overall response to gender-based violence I'd like to turn it over to Elijah to speak on what this means to our frontline services Thank you Nino, very good to be here with you, Minister Farnworth and Secretary Lorre I'm Elijah Zimmerman, the executive director at the Victoria Sexual Assault Center I'm going to take a few moments to share how this money helps survivors with a look at the services we provide VSAC is an urban center on the Congan territory and we're fortunate to have a best practice, the only kind in Canada 24-7 365 clinic with a sexual assault response team or we call it SART Our clinic is for anyone of any gender 13 and up, what this means is a survivor reaches out after assault Either calling our access line or the Vancouver crisis line, Vancouver Island crisis line And a SART team member then supports them as they attend an examined hospital or often they attend our clinic Where a forensic nurse examiner will care for them in a trauma-informed design space that is comfortable for support and care Recently had a survivor share with us, he was so nervous, he wasn't sure how it would feel to come to this kind of clinic But it made a huge difference that he felt seen and supported and cared for in such a difficult moment Survivors can also choose after using our clinic to see a crisis counselor for 10-12 sessions We also have victim service workers that can help survivors make police reports or go through the court process if that's what they choose to do All of what I've just shared here is a glimpse at the many steps or options that survivors have and it can be overwhelming And that's why it's so important that we have wraparound care that we can walk with survivors each step of the way Having this kind of core and stable funding means survivors can count on this best practice now and in the future Imagine, or for some of you, you already know, the feeling of experiencing sexualized violence and knowing there are services available to help you In what might be the most difficult time of your life Knowing that support extends beyond the acute moment and to a process over time, knowing you are not alone The contrast of not having this is stark and still a reality for too many people We know early support exponentially helps a healing trajectory This is good for the person, their families and our communities so they can heal and live a life of dignity, respect and health Here at VSAC we support current and historical survivors and we've seen that need grow in the pandemic More complex needs related to sexualized violence, more survivors coming forward and fully engaging our services This step of core stable funding begins to recognize the depth and breadth of need we have for these services across BC Thank you Thank you very much. We will now questions from the media. A reminder to reporters on the line, please press star one to enter the queue You will be limited to one question and one follow-up. Our first question today comes from Mira Bains, CBC Sure. This question is for Nenu Kang. Hi, Nenu. And I'm wondering about both the pandemic and sort of the effects on the increased rates of sexual assault Can you just talk a little bit about that and how the money will help with core funding? Thanks, Mira. Good to hear your voice. One thing we've been hearing when we're reaching out to our members, member programs And what they're sharing with us on the front line is that they have had increased rate of clients coming through their doors And I think Elijah will confirm that. We've got an increased number of gender based violence that includes everything from intimate partner violence to sexual violence To stalking and other forms of violence. So we're hearing that in general from services from across the province But in particular with sexual assault services, we know that there's also an increase in this type of crime And as Elijah pointed out, what's really important is the immediate response that a community has to someone that's experienced sexual violence And we do know that there's a disproportionate rate of sexual violence against particular groups of women, whether they're indigenous women We also know immigrant women. We've also heard that international students in the universities and colleges are experiencing disproportionate levels of sexual violence So it's really important for sexual survivors to know that there's something in the community that is easy access And it's not necessarily that they're going to use police as their first intervention It's the supports that are trauma informed where the survivors are believed where services are culturally perhaps linguistically appropriate Even if the particular service doesn't have the type of supports that individual needs that that organization knows who else to make appropriate referrals to All things that this money that has gone into communities from across the province These are the services that have been able to increase infrastructure and work along with other services in their communities to enhance the response to sexual assault survivors. Thank you Myra, do you have a follow-up? Yes, I do. And this question is from Minister Farnworth and it's on a different topic. Minister Farnworth, there are questions over another convoy That an organizer, the organizers, one of the organizers of the Ottawa protests, they say they're heading for Victoria later this month Are you concerned about that and what if any preps are being made to prevent what happened in Ottawa happening in Victoria? What I can tell you is that we do monitor whenever we hear of these kinds of things taking place around these so-called convoys That being said, we have seen the legitimate peaceful demonstrations that have taken place here in Victoria And the police have done, I think, an incredible job in terms of handling the situation And I expect that that's exactly what they will continue to do Next question comes from Bender Sajin, CTV Hi, Daria, just wondering if you can talk to us a little bit about what the impact has been on organizations like yours to not have this core funding over the past 20 years As I understand, you have to apply for grants. Is there uncertainty? Has there been sausages in the services that you've been able to provide? If you can just talk a little bit about that impact and whether you believe that there's any benefits in the future in having services like these come under a specific ministry So nearly 20 years ago when these sexual assault fundings were cut, many organizations had to close their doors Many programs were shut down. Few organizations from across our province continued to provide supports to sexual assault survivors And many times they had to tap into funds that they raised from the community They had to apply for grants and short grants from other ministries to cobble together various fundings just to make sure that they weren't turning away survivors of sexual assault And I think Victoria Sexual Assault Center is a really good example of that and there are many others I could name But we do know that across our province, particularly in rural communities, there were organizations and programs shut down And so what Eva BC has been advocating for, it's a provincial organization that supports close to 300 frontline programs What we've been doing is working really closely with the provincial government, pulling other stakeholders in the community together and working alongside of them And saying that part of gender based violence response in a province is to focus on sexual assault support services We've done as a province, we've done a good job, relatively good job in providing supports to intimate partner violence responses But what we need is a sexual assault policy in our province that's going to help us triage what we need across the province with regards to training frontline workers to respond to sexual support We need consistent funding in these programs so that programs aren't having to figure out where their next year's funding is going to come from We also need to be able to pull communities together to look at the various services that are in place, not just the frontline emergency sexual response, but what happens to survivors for their long term trauma recovery phase So when you ask what have we been advocating for, we've been advocating for consistent ongoing funding so we're thrilled about this announcement We're looking for ongoing supports to these programs so that they can continue to provide the best services possible We also want to continue to advocate for a sexual assault policy in our province so that we can pull together provincial stakeholders from various ministries And frankly, where this money lands, you know, I'm less concerned with that I'm more interested in the champions from within our provincial governments who are going to continue to insist that we need to have equitable funding across our province for sexual assault services Binder, do you have a follow-up? I'm good, thank you Thank you very much. We move on to Lisa Yusta, City News I apologize, it's about something, a different topic, someone else's care of covering this story for our station Minister Farnworth? I'm just wondering if you can talk about Alberta is going to stop pausing their provincial fuel sales tax People are very concerned about how they are going to live with prices expected to hit about 250 midweek For the affordability government, what are you going to do with gas prices to make this at least less unaffordable at this point in this very dire situation? Thank you for the question. The reality is, is the gas price situation is driven by events outside of provincial control The situation and invasion of Ukraine have dramatically upset the energy markets, not just here in British Columbia, but in fact right around the world At the same time, you know, in terms of affordability, we have taken a number of initiatives on affordability in general to make life more affordable Whether it is around providing significant savings in terms of childcare in this province, moving towards $10 day childcare Whether it has been the changes that have come about in ICBC insurance that have seen people's insurance drop on average of $491 a year Along with the rebates that we were able to offer At the same time, recognizing that if there are other initiatives that could be taken Obviously we will try and look at that, but there is no simple solution to the situation of rising fuel prices Lisa, do you have a follow up? Yes, I know it is not simple, but Alberta is making the need to remove their provincial taxes or pause, I should say, pause them Could DC not pause them at this point in time when gas arguably is completely unaffordable? The only planned increase is the one cent litre on April 1st And one of the challenges on that taxation side as a number of economists and fuel experts have indicated Down the fuel companies don't just jack the price up to take advantage of the margin that you may have created The reality is that there is significant instability in the energy markets on a global basis Directly related to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia We have time for one more question today, we will go to Shannon Waters BC today Hi there, I wanted to ask about the timeline for this funding A couple of questions on that front, Minister Farnworth, I believe it was you who said that the way that this funding is going to be rolled out Will be developed over the coming months, so I am curious what the timeline is for actually delivering these dollars to I believe it's the 50 centres around the province that will be benefiting from them And also if you have a breakdown of what the funding is going to be year by year So the funding is stable funding, it is $10 million annually The next step is the development of the procurement process We would like that to be done as expeditiously as possible The new funding starts on April 1st of 2023 In the meantime the existing grant-based funding remains in effect And so organizations can count on that funding Knowing full well that on April 1st 2023 it moves to stable ongoing funding That they don't have to worry about either getting through a grant procurement basis And that's on top of the $42 million that's annually already provided For programs dealing with violence against women and gender violence in general Shannon, do you have a follow up? Yes please, this would be either I think for you or Elijah One of you said that this funding and the fact that it's stable and permanent Will begin to address the need and I'm wondering if for either of you You anticipate that this funding promise is going to be enough to meet the needs For the programs that you are delivering Elijah, go ahead I can speak to that This funding enables us to have a bit of confidence towards all the programming And services we offer But we will still continue to need to look for donations and fundraising And other grant programs So this is a great first step Definitely a restoration after 20 years I think that's a great thing to be doing But the need and the awareness of supports and services needed It's quite large here in our province and really around the world So I think we do need to keep working towards meeting those needs Thank you Vance and attendees, that concludes today's event