CRIAW-ICREF Welcomes Commitment to WAGE Funding in Budget 2025

Budget 2025’s Commitment to Gender Equality is Welcomed at Critical Time of Economic Insecurity

Sustained funding opens door for action to protect intersectional women’s rights and social justice, amid rise of regressive movements

Anishinaabe Territory/OTTAWA: Yesterday’s announcement that Budget 2025 will include funding to protect and advance intersectional women’s rights is welcomed by the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW-ICREF). With the government’s commitment to the Women’s Program at Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) in the coming budget, Prime Minister Carney and his government are showing continued support for action to advance women’s rights, gender equality and women’s economic security.

Amidst the rise of regressive movements in Canada who target women’s rights and social justice, stable, predictable and ongoing funding really matters for women’s equality and economic security. As the Prime Minister has told Canadians, Budget 2025 will include both new investments and sacrifices. Research by CRIAW-ICREF notes that federal spending cuts disproportionately affect women and that the lack of funding to support communities deepens inequalities that undermine women’s rights and create precarious employment and unsafe living conditions.

In that context, CRIAW-ICREF is calling on the government to ensure a GBA Plus and intersectional lens is applied to each of the nation-building projects agreements – to ensure well-paying jobs and remove barriers to economic opportunities for women. CRIAW-ICREF also urges the Carney government to ensure a GBA Plus and intersectional lens informs all community benefit agreements which may be developed adjacent to the major projects agreements.

Additionally, CRIAW-ICREF calls for funding to be dedicated to ensuring the application of a GBA Plus lens and meaningful consultation with feminist organizations as part of the government’s approach to artificial intelligence. It is vital that this technology and critical policy issue benefit, and not harm, all Canadians.

CRIAW-ICREF urges the government to maximize the impact of these new investments by providing funding for five years to national women’s rights organizations, whose mandates are focused on systemic change. CRIAW-ICREF is ready to do more, in partnership with the new government, to advance intersectional women’s rights and gender equality during this crucial moment of significant uncertainty and change.

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For more information, contact: Jackie Neapole, Executive Director, CRIAW-ICREF

jackie@criaw-icref.ca

343-324-1927

About CRIAW-ICREF: Since 1976, CRIAW-ICREF has been researching and documenting the economic and social situation of women in Canada. It undertakes research, policy analysis and education on feminist intersectionality and GBA Plus to understand systems of power that create barriers to women’s equality in order to remove these barriers and redistribute power equitably. Using intersectional frameworks, CRIAW-ICREF has developed and undertaken a variety of important, ground-breaking research that is women centered. CRIAW-ICREF is a not for profit member-based organization. www.criaw-icref.ca