Lack of new money in N.S. budget for domestic abuse fails survivors, say advocates

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s new budget fails to adequately address the crisis of gender-based violence, advocates and opposition parties say.

The Progressive Conservatives introduced a $17.6-billion budget on Tuesday for the 2025-26 fiscal year, which made note of $100 million in previously announced funding for intimate-partner and gender-based violence.

Since October, six women in Nova Scotia have been killed by their male partners.

Carrie Low, a survivor of gender-based violence and an advocate, said in an interview Wednesday she feels let down by the budget because it doesn’t include substantial new funding to prevent domestic abuse or support survivors. “The lack of support, it says that we’re not important enough. That our lives don’t matter,” Low said.

“The message, again, is that this is not a priority.”

Kristina Fifield, a trauma therapist who works with survivors of intimate-partner violence, says the budget fails to give victim advocacy groups “core funding” to provide consistent support.

“It’s really disappointing that there’s not an epidemic-level response to the epidemic of gender-based violence,” Fifield said. “We have seen the reports and recommendations about what is needed. And now we need the political will and money to support that work.”

Fifield and Low participated in a rally Wednesday in downtown Halifax to honour victims of gender-based violence, including the six women and one man who were killed since October. In five of the six homicides the perpetrator then killed himself.

“I don’t know what else needs to happen for this to be considered a priority,” Fifield said, noting that recommendations to address gender-based violence have been detailed in reports from the inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, which began with a violent domestic assault, and the inquiry that investigated why a former soldier in Nova Scotia killed three family members and himself in 2017.

A spokesperson with the Department of Social Development and Status of Women said in an email, “government reaffirmed its commitment to addressing gender-based and intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia with more than $100 million in continued funding from across government.”

While government officials said Tuesday there was no incremental increase in funding for intimate-partner violence in the new budget, the spokesperson clarified Wednesday afternoon that the budget includes $7 million more for transition houses and women’s centres.

The province also announced Wednesday it would expand its paid domestic violence leave program to five days from three days, effective April 1.

Claudia Chender, leader of the official Opposition NDP, called for long-term funding for these non-profits. “Seven lives have been lost to intimate-partner violence in a matter of months. The time for piecemeal solutions is over,” she said.

She introduced a bill Tuesday that would ramp up spending to address domestic abuse by creating a funding formula to ensure non-profits and shelters that support survivors have the money they need to operate.

Liberal justice critic Iain Rankin said the lack of new money for intimate-partner violence is disappointing. “Survivors and front-line organizations need real, sustained support to ensure safety and access to critical services.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2025.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press