YWCA launches Canada’s first national immediate financial support fund for survivors of domestic violence

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YWCA Canada has launched their National Emergency Survivor Support (NESS) Fund to give domestic violence survivors immediate financial assistance – the first of its kind for Canada. 

Over the next four years, 12 YWCA member organizations across various Canadian provinces will provide 1,500 grants and interest-free loans ranging from $500 to $1,200. The NESS Fund expanded from YWCA Toronto’s December 6th Fund which provides interest-free loans to women who are fleeing abuse with bank accounts and a source of income.

“It’s the difference between, sometimes, staying in an abusive space and leaving,” YWCA Canada’s interim CEO, Raine Liliefeldt, tells Future of Good. “We’ve heard time and time again from survivors that this kind of immediate financial support is needed.”

YWCA is a non-profit organization that focuses on empowerment, leadership, and the rights of women, girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people. The NESS Fund comes after two years of support organizations being overwhelmed with survivors struggling to stay safe when the pandemic’s lockdown kept them closer to the violence they experience at home. 

More than half of survivor shelters in Canada reported an increased need for their services. Around 61 percent of shelters had to reduce the beds and units they offered due to COVID-19 safety precautions.

YWCA Saskatoon CEO, Cara Bahr, says when lockdown restrictions began lifting, their organization saw a 10 to 12 percent increase in domestic violence calls asking for shelter. YWCA Saskatoon, which sits on the Treaty 6 Territory of the Métis people, had to turn away 3,721 women and children because there wasn’t enough room.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan is the province with the highest rate of intimate partner violence at 655 reported cases for every 100,000 people – more than double the national rate. 

The Northwest Territories has the highest rate in the country at 3,233 reported cases. 

The YWCA has a member organization in Yellowknife, which is located on Chief Drygeese territory, but they do not have enough capacity funding to operate the NESS Fund. And currently, grants are only available to survivors living in the regions where YWCA member organizations are administering the funds.

Liliefedlt writes in an email, “The limitations placed on the NESS Fund by lack of resources underscore why the sustainable, long-term solution is government policy to address the urgent and unmet need.”

What the National Emergency Survivor Support Fund can do

The NESS Fund benefits survivors in two ways: giving women and gender-diverse people the assistance they need to leave violence and giving other survivors the room to come to safety.

“It frees up more room for us and shelters to accept more women and children,” Bahr says. 

But this financial assistance can do more than secure a deposit on a place to live. 

Buying new identification cards, closing accounts in their names, and paying off loans are other things keeping women and gender-diverse people from leaving abusive situations, according to Heather Symbalisty, executive director of YWCA Brandon, located in Treaty 2 territory of the Dakota and Ojibwe. 

“Each individual and their family is going to be assessed individually to see what their needs are going to be as we move forward,” says Symbalisty. 

YWCA is taking a trauma-informed approach to providing funds by believing and trusting survivors, and not making the process to apply for money invasive. “They face enough barriers as it is — and stigma from the labels that are put on individuals because they face violence,” says Symbalisty.

Women in rural areas also experience the highest rates of domestic violence overall in Canada, but their location makes it harder for them to access services. 

To address this, YWCA Brandon has a dedicated coordinator working on NESS Fund to meet survivors where they are, geographically, if they have trouble getting help.

“Transportation is a huge barrier in the rural communities,” says Symbalisty. She says the unreliable buses is something YWCA Brandon struggles with in all areas of their services. “We definitely try to meet everyone where they’re at so that we can take that worry out of the equation for them.”

YWCAs will provide NESS grants and loans alongside referrals to other organizations’ wraparound services such as other shelters, employment support, childcare, mental health, substance use health, and counselling. 

YWCA is continuing to fundraise for the NESS Fund, with the hope that immediate financial support will be available for survivors beyond the next four years.

Liliefeldt says she would consider the NESS Fund a success if “other funders are getting behind the YWCA in those communities to replenish that fund and to ensure that it’s available for service users over and over again.”

What success looks like

Liliefeldt wants the NESS Fund to be rolled out smoothly and quickly to survivors who need it. And that may be possible — YWCA Saskatoon aims to provide funds within three days of the first request.

Despite these measures of success, Liliefeldt still asks: “How are we going to end gender-based violence all together so that survivors don’t need this kind of funding or support?”

Bahr says: “It should be the government running this program, not the YWCA. And that’s simply for the stability and sustainability of the funds, and the fact that donors and nonprofits can only take it so far.”

The NESS Fund is possible because of a $2 million gift from the Slaight Family Foundation. Other contributions to the fund include $20,000 from Aviva Canada and the Torrid Foundation’s support through Torrid store customer purchase round-ups and donations. 

What the government can do

“Due to [the government’s] scale and size of their financial resources, they’re more able to address the need,” says Bahr. “They need to provide more transitional housing and supportive housing services for women and gender-diverse folks that are fleeing violence.”

Liliefeldt says there are several women’s organizations over the last 10 years that have been providing a blueprint for what a national action plan to end gender based violence could look like. 

In January 2021, the Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Ministers’ endorsed a Joint Declaration for a Canada free of gender-based violence, which includes the development of a national action plan to end gender-based violence to be implemented over 10 years.

Women and Gender Equality Canada wrote in an email to Future of Good that they are “working with provincial and territorial governments to begin negotiations by the end of 2022.”

“I think one area that is important for the government to recognize is that we’ve been doing this work for a very long time,” says Symbalisty. “And we know what we need to do with funding, so it would be great to have partnerships where we were provided the funding and we can just use it for an extended amount of time.”

This could help the organization’s programs take more people in — but it could also provide better staffing so people are not getting burnt out by trauma and funding deadlines. 

“It’s about understanding what survivors need, listening to survivors, and listening to the the women’s organizations, the feminist organizations, the organizations that are supporting survivors to follow up in in the way that they’ve outlined,” says Liliefeldt.

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