Proposed federal funding cuts could jeopardize gender-based violence work, Waterloo region groups say

The proposed cuts to WAGE could result in a nearly 80 per cent cut to the budget from 2027 to 2028, if passed.

Sara Casselman, executive director of the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, says this would directly impact the organization and the work they do in Waterloo region.

“Waterloo region was the least safe major urban centre in Canada for women based on police reports of sexual assault, criminal harassment and domestic violence. Our community was labelled the least safe,” she said, referencing a 2019 report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that ranked 26 metro areas across Canada.

“In 2023, our regional government and our city government declared that an epidemic in our community when it came to gender based violence. Recent reports have put Waterloo region as the third highest level of trafficking in Canada. And so we’re not talking about something abstract.”

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