This July, Feminists Deliver received the delightful news that we are one of the recipients of the federal government’s Department for Women and Gender Equality Feminist Response and Recovery Fund. The funding will allow recipient organizations, such as Feminists Deliver, to launch new projects or scale up past projects that increase women and girls’ participation in Canada’s economic, social, democratic and political life.
Today, Minister Maryam Monsef announced this investment in more than 200 projects that support a feminist recovery–critical as we continue to progress and address the gaps in gender inequities in Canada. This funding announcement came at the same event that celebrated the newly elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), RoseAnne Archibald who is a member of the Taykwa Tagamou Nation in northern Ontario and the first woman elected to the role. Chief Archibald iterated the need for investing in Indigenous women and their leadership in recovery efforts including addressing systemic issues, encouraging women, and girls, and leadership, improving Economic Security, and prosperity, and ending gender-based violence.
Through this new funding, Feminists Deliver will be able to achieve the following:
- Expand the membership of the Feminists Deliver coalition to include a broad cross-section of women (trans and cis), femmes, Two-Spirit folks, non-binary leaders across the province.
- Enhance the leadership capacity of women (trans and cis), femmes, Two-Spirit folks, non-binary in the feminist movement to address systemic inequities.
- Build local, regional and provincial partnerships among coalition members and other key stakeholders.
- Host the 2nd Feminists Deliver Conference and Trade Show.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted historic and contemporary injustices while signifying the necessity of advancing a decolonial and intersectional feminist approach toward gender justice.We are grateful for the funding from the Department of Women and Gender Equality which will help Feminists Deliver expand our capacity to build an ever stronger matrix of community-based interventions to ameliorate gender and racial inequity in BC.”
In 2020, we published “A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for COVID-19” highlighting that while underrepresented women (trans and cis), femmes, Two-Spirit folks, non-binary folks are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, they are largely missing from discussions of recovery. Also, coalition members report that they are facing unprecedented challenges responding to increased demand while combating the root causes of structural inequities exacerbated by the pandemic. We emphasized that:
- Recovery strategies must be rooted in an intersectional feminism, anti-oppression and decolonization to address needs of underrepresented women (trans and cis), femmes, Two-Spirit folks, non-binary folks.
- Women (trans and cis), femmes, Two-Spirit folks, non-binary leaders must play a central role in the development and implementation of community-based approaches to address these intersectional barriers.
“Our advocacy in ensuring the safety and wellness of mothers and children are aligned with Feminists Deliver’s commitment to addressing oppression and systemic factors that contribute to the separation of families. We are ecstatic to see this funding as it extends our capacity as one of the member organizations, while further attesting to the interlocking futures of feminists movements—our advocacies are connected.”
We look forward to continue working together with our members of more than 25 BC-based organizations that support women and girls (trans and cis experience), Two-Spirit people, non-binary folks, Indigiqueer, and lesbian women.
For those interested in our projects, joining our movements including a membership with Feminists Deliver, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or subscribe to our newsletter for updates.
